Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum Art and its new Harlem Island home.

I am Elaine Harrah, Director of Contemporary Exhibitions.

Thank you for attending Claudia Atiano and Memoriam.

This exhibition has been curated by Atiano's friend and fellow artist, Roymata Mangacahia,

who spent two years with Atiano and her artist's commune in Cornwall in the early 1970s.

The commune was deserted in 1972 when Atiano vanished.

We know, of course, that she died, although there is much uncertainty in speculation as to how.

We might expect that these paintings or Mangacahia's narration would address the rumors of

foul play or open windows on Atiano's story, but we feel there is little to be gained here.

Please instead enjoy this retrospective on Atiano's known life and work and join us

in fairwelling one of the 20th century's greatest artists.

Remember, checked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, please see the kiosk located at the Hudson River

Ferry Station at the St. Nicholas Park Dock.

I have thought long and carefully about what to include in this exhibition.

I have thought about which works Claudia would want included and what she would have left out.

It is not easy to guess that a person's opinions years after they have gone.

It is hard to know if the impressions you hold of them are accurate or if they've been

coloured and altered by the changes that have happened within yourself.

Perhaps it is for the best that she was unable to provide any input into this exhibition.

Creative people are not always the best curators of their own work.

When you have been so close to a piece for as long as it takes to conceive it, refine

it and in the end create it. It becomes difficult to see how it might fit into a wider picture.

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