“I think of this piece as an amulet for propitious things in the journey of this life and beyond.”

—Jane Hammond

In this ambitious three-dimensional work, Jane Hammond pushes the boundaries of printmaking and its sculptural possibilities. Adorning the gilded surface of the mummy case in Spells and Incantations are rows of pseudo-hieroglyphs that come from Hammond’s repository of 276 found images, which the artist repeatedly utilizes; drawn from manuals, children's books, books on magic and puppetry, medical journals, technical illustrations, matchbook covers, labels, charts and maps, these symbols form a personal lexicon. The influence of Egyptian imagery first came to Hammond in her childhood, via her grandmother who grew up in Egypt. Here, Hammond merges herself with her grandmother’s heritage, a photograph of the artist appearing as the face of the mummy.