I first entered the world of Barbara Hammer as an undergraduate when I was writing my thesis on Barbara’s early filmography – I was incredibly inspired by the idea of a lesbian artist putting a life on-screen that she hadn’t seen before. I met Barbara through this research work, and became very close with her widow, Florrie Burke, after Barbara’s death in 2019. This led me to a following decade of work on Barbara Hammer – making a short film, and now the feature documentary on Barbara’s life, work, and legacy. I have always viewed Barbara Hammer as a historian in a sense, someone whose life felt in lineage with my own.
As I got to know Barbara more closely through her archive, I came to understand her not only as a ground-breaking artist, but as a blueprint for how to live against the grain. Barbara was a defiant woman who did things her own way – not through rigid certainty, but through trial and error, curiosity, and play. She allowed herself to experiment, to fail, to begin again, and to follow what felt true to her rather than what was expected. That spirit runs through her films, and her life at large. Barbara’s work insists that you do not need permission to invent yourself, that living on your own terms is an ongoing, imperfect, and very human process. In this way, her life offers something profoundly universal – an invitation for anyone, artist or not, to go out and do what matters to them, boldly and unapologetically.
As a filmmaker now, I think a lot about specifically queer lineage and those who have come before me – all the lives that have been lived, like mine. I am fascinated by telling stories rooted in the present that are inspired by the past and consider future iterations of queerness and possibilities, and my work interrogates how personal archival collections offer unfiltered perspective into a broader scope of queer lives lived, particularly as we navigate the current political and cultural attitudes towards our queer and trans siblings. Ultimately, my approach to LGBTQIA+ storytelling weaves my own perspective into accessible works that function as individual threads within a shared collective record. In this way, I hope to contribute to the preservation and expansion of queer history – documenting lives both real and imagined. And as a lesbian, I find those can be the same thing.
I believe that Barbara’s films hold a deep capacity for self-identification and collective connection.
Today, Barbara Hammer is a singular and profoundly influential figure within queer cinema and avant-garde art communities around the world, yet her work remains largely unknown to wider audiences. With this film, I hope to expand the context and reach of her legacy – placing her work in conversation with contemporary art, film, education, and queer life – so that broader audiences can encounter it for the first time. I believe that Barbara’s films hold a deep capacity for self-identification and collective connection, and that many more people would see themselves reflected in her work if given the chance. My hope is that this film allows more people to connect with Barbara and to carry her influence forward by expressing themselves and making their mark – on their own terms – as the next generation of visionaries.
My professional background as an archival producer not only informs my generative artistic practice and methods of approaching and interpreting archival materials, but it also offers the opportunity for me to work with other documentary directors collaboratively. I have had the pleasure of working with – and learning from – queer filmmakers that I deeply admire, including Kirsten Johnson, Kim Reed, and Sian-Pierre Regis.
Spending time with Barbara and her work through making this documentary has given me the language, and a framework, for living my own life with curiosity, ambition, and the desire to connect deeply with others – both artistically and personally. I am so excited to experience how audiences of BARBARA FOREVER internalise – and proliferate – Barbara Hammer’s legacy in their own lives and dreams.
Brydie O’Connor
