Hermesignet
             

1.10.2005

Gold ring with inscription

In several of her works Tanya Ury has adopted the name of Hermè or Herme (her & me):

Hermeneurotic 1984- (collection of literary texts)
Hermes Insensed 2000-2001 (photo series with 15 short stories)
Building Bridges 2001 (short story)
Between the Lines or The Three Rs 2001 (short story)
Holding the Baby 2002 (2 photographs and short story)
Stick Insect 2003 (short story)
Getta Life 2003 (short story)
Night and Day 2003 (short story)
Hermesignet 2005 (gold ring with inscription)
Herme 2010 (digitally processed 1950’s fashion cover)
herlookingovermeshoulder 2011 (digitally processed 1940’s advertisement)

Hermesignet is not a wedding ring but a signet insignia – a woman’s gift to herself, signifying her independence and commitment to the essential self. The dedication and inscription is as follows:

FROM HER TO ME ° ALWAYS BE TRUE TO HER SELF °
             

My parents named me after the pianist Tanya Ury, having met this artist after a concert of hers in London, when I was only a few months old. My name till that day had been Suzanne Miriam Ury. The piano player was delighted that I was to become her namesake and commissioned her husband, a jeweller, to fashion a talisman as a gift. On the back of this lucky charm, a four-leaved clover of gold with a pearl at the centre, there was a legend that read:
 
 
TANYA
  
SAN FRANCISCO
TO
LONDON 1952
 
TANYA
  
 
Though similar in intention as the golden four leaved clover, with the dedication “Tanya To Tanya”, the gold ring with a message is however, a pledge, not of one person to another, but of one person to her own being.