Cuban American artist and writer Coco Fusco discussed the research that went into the creation of her 2021 video work Your Eyes Will Be an Empty Word.

Fusco shot footage of the waters around Hart Island, which is home to the largest mass grave in the United States and where New York’s unclaimed victims of Covid-19 have been buried. The film evolved from research that Fusco conducted about the history of artistic representation of plagues and other epidemics of infectious diseases.

This talk, free and open to the public, was the first major program cosponsored by the Public History Initiative in the Department of History and the Johnson Museum, highlighting how artists explore themes of history, memory, and the archive through their work. The live stream and recording was made possible through eCornell.

The Findlay Family Lecture is funded by a generous gift from the Findlay Family Foundation. Fusco’s visit was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, with additional support from the Cornell University Department of Art.

On Friday, October 20, Cornell Cinema presented a screening of The Eternal Night (La noche eterna) with director Coco Fusco as part of the 2023 Cine con Cultura film festival.