Tales from the Mogul Archive, a 36-panel “magnum opus”, blends 20th century visual culture with my personal history. This series of seven narratives, investigates matrilineal lineage, fashion, sexuality, and photography. Featuring photographs from my mother’s archive and mine, Tales is also a memoir about the creative impact my mother, a lifelong amateur photographer, had on her boomer feminist daughter. (Below are excerpts from three of the narratives.)

Look Alike

“Compare and contrast” is the first and still most effective tool of art history and visual studies. Mogul demonstrates the technique in “Look Alike”. But what begins as something of an academic exercise, quickly turns personal, ending in a candid and touching confession by the artist herself. (Tom Jimmerson)

Perfect Fit

“Perfect Fit” tells the story of how Rhoda Blate Mogul and her daughter Susan exchanged garments back and forth as if a generational divide never existed. Counterintuitive as ever, the unmarried artist locates her punch line at the beginning and in small print: “The only outfit of hers I could never get into was her wedding dress.” (Tom Jimmerson)

Lingua Franca

What is the common thread connecting an aunt and her niece across time and space? “Lingua Franca” offers an answer: hats. (Tom Jimmerson)

Tom Jimmerson is the gallery director of as-is.la in Los Angeles.