Gallery label from *XL: 19 New Acquisitions in Photography*, May 10, 2013–January 6, 2014.

For her series Riffs on Real Time, Hewitt repurposed domestic and personal objects such as family snapshots, books, magazines, and handwritten letters to create still lifes that intertwine personal and historical narratives. Each of the photographs pictures three elements: an intimate snapshot, a piece of historical or everyday ephemera, and a highly textured monochromatic backdrop. Although at first glance it appears as if Hewitt came across the arrangements by chance, each one is meticulously composed, revealing a sculptural approach to image making. The play of meaning between the items in her photographs is sometimes deeply personal and other times more broadly political, often questioning the nostalgia that is evoked through family mementos and relics of the civil rights era.

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