Lorna Simpson

Lorna Simpson transforms a catchy tune into a commentary on race through acts of erasure. Fifteen black singers, shown only as disembodied mouths, separately hum the song “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget),” originally sung by Bing Crosby in the 1935 film Mississippi. The melody is stripped of its lyrics in the same way that black voices are silenced by racism. Simpson uses only the first part of the title, intentionally dropping the second phrase, perhaps as a disquieting reminder that the effects of racism likewise are hard to forget.