THOM 11 | Fall / Winter 2018

STORYTELLER
“The map was clearly racist,” Didi Hoffman
acknowledges, “but the Field took the whole
exhibition down and put it in the basement for
the next 50 years.”
A Writer’s Journey
The story planted itself in Didi’s head and would
percolate there for years. She began
to read extensively and research
Malvina Hoffman’s life and career.
Didi discovered many intersections
between her and Hoffman’s lives
beyond the familial one. These
included the Thomasville plantation
on which Didi now lives, which
was designed by Abram Garfield, a
patron and neighbor of Hoffman;
and the sculptor’s bravery in
facing personal and professional
challenges, which gave Didi
strength while she was fighting
her own battle with cancer.
These intersections only strengthened Didi’s
resolve to tell Malvina Hoffman’s story in the most
authentic and accurate way possible—to tell
a story only a few have attempted to tell.
As Didi’s husband has said, “We’re together
because you were supposed to write this story.”
“Truth” is a slippery thing for biographers. The lens
through which we look at a subject inevitably
shapes the story we tell. Didi explains
that the other two books in print about
Malvina Hoffman are written from
an ethnographer’s point of view
and contain information “most of
which is incorrect.” Didi took the
perspective of an artist, intending
to breathe new life into a
legacy that had nearly been
extinguished by controversy.
“There has to be an archive of
the history of women’s art,” Didi
14