New Friend Chapter 4 - 1000 Miles
Bitsy Knox (CA, 2026)
56 min
New Friend is a 5-part limited series audio documentary that delves into the fascinating story behind photographs taken by the groundbreaking lesbian artist and filmmaker Barbara Hammer in August 1973, on Hornby Island, Ja-Dai-Aich, British Columbia.
It's a story of art, archives, single motherhood, long-distance love affairs and liberation across 1000 miles.
Chapter 4 - 1000 Miles:
It’s the Summer of 1973. Barbara Hammer has had a busy summer, zigzagging across California on her motorcycle, camping and visiting ex-lovers, lesbian conferences and festivals. Along the way, she meets Terry Anderson, a feverishly intelligent single mother of two, an academic with an artistic mind.
Together, they embark on a 1000-mile adventure that will lead them to Hornby Island Ja-Dai-Aich along with two 19-year olds, Martha Ross and Rosemary Allenbach. On Hornby, Barbara Hammer takes three rolls of film, documenting a brief moment in all of its charged artistic and romantic energy.
In this chapter of New Friend, we delve into the torrid mystery of Barbara and Terry's long-distance love affair across dozens and dozens of letters, and culminating in an unforgettable, calamitous road trip.
Listener discretion: This chapter of New Friend contains references to addiction.
Hosted by Bitsy Knox.
Production, research, script and sound design by Bitsy Knox.
Mixing and mastering by Robert Steenkamer.
New Friend was originally aired on Cashmere Radio Berlin and 96.5 CHFR Hornby Island Community Radio. Cover image courtesy of The Estate of Barbara Hammer. New Friend is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Thank you to: The Estate of Barbara Hammer Hornby Island Community Archives Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Cashmere Radio, Berlin 96.5 CHFR Hornby Island Community Radio KOW, Berlin Company Gallery, New York City Hornby Arts Centre Florrie Burke Louky Keijsers Koning Martha Ross Derek Anderson Rebecca Dunne Emma Walter Emily Harrison All beings, human and more-than-human, of Hornby Island, Ja-Dai-Aich, and its surrounding waters—where I am a part-time, uninvited guest on the unceded, traditional, and ancestral land of the K'omoks First Nation, the Eitsen, Pentlach, Sasitla and Sahtloot peoples.