06/11/2026
Sarah Hulsey: Time Present and Time Past
June 3 - 28, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, June 5, 6-8 pm
Sarah will be at the gallery on June 13 and June 27 from 12-5 both days.
Bromfield Gallery�450 Harrison Ave�Boston, MA 02118
Hours: Wed - Sun, 12-5
I have become fascinated with counting tokens from Mesopotamia that are thought to be the precursors to cuneiform writing. I am equally compelled by the precise drawings of them in archeological scholarship, often with cross-sectional views and sorted by shape, size, and markings into orderly arrays. When seen in aggregate, they have a quality both rational—their sortings appear very regimented—and arcane. As images, the tokens resist identification, and yet they take on characteristics of familiar objects.
I am reminded of the extraordinary, evocative Borges story, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” in which an imaginary, mysterious world called Tlön slowly infiltrates our own. Lost objects there tend to duplicate themselves, becoming longer and more exaggerated with each duplication. When these secondary and tertiary objects, dubbed “hrönir,” start to be produced in our parallel world, Borges says it is “of invaluable aid to archaeologists, making it possible not only to interrogate but even modify the past, which is now no less plastic, no less malleable than the future.”
In this show, I explore the ancient tokens and schematic drawings of them, imagining their ability to translate between parallel worlds and spans of time.
Pictured:
1. Hrönir, kiln-fired copper stain and grisaille on glass, pen and pencil on flax paper, wooden frame, 12” x 9” x 1.25”, 2026
