Negative Space

By: Lilly Dancyger

Narrated by: Lilly Dancyger

A memoir from the editor of Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger, Negative Space explores Dancyger’s own anger, grief, and artistic inheritance as she sets out to illuminate the darkness her father hid from her, as well as her own.

Despite her parents’ struggles with addiction, Lilly Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal the instability around the edges?

Dancyger’s father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him - despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away.

As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she’d created about her father - the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father’s work to find the truth of who he really was.

©2021 Lilly Dancyger (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Heart felt

Honest, Heart felt, And touching story of loss and finding hope in the Negative space.

This hit home

Absolutely loved this real point of voice. I felt very connected to her and her story

Deep perspective

Could feel the book deep inside; well read; well said. Enjoyed the perspective of the book and the author.

Gorgeous book

I could relate so much to this book, and I’m sure that even those who don’t have estranged artist fathers could too. It’s just fabulous. A compassionate look inside heroin addiction, the village art scene, a unique father daughter relationship, and told so beautifully. Lilly is a terrific writer, and hearing her narrate the story really brought it to life for me. I highly recommend this memoir.

Fascinating memoir

I love how Lilly wove the story of each of her parents journeys into the fabric of her search for her father. Three character arcs in a memoir! Not only did Lilly learn the truth about the father she idolized, but her relationship with her mother is mended.