The year of the tiger is over and the millennium is ahead. What is my view of holography in the late 20th century? "To prophesy is extremely difficult, especially with respect to the future" (Chinese proverb).

Since its birth in the late 1960's, the fortunes of art holography have risen and fallen in waves, falling into a trough in the 1970's and rising to a peak in the 1980's, with support structures, museums and galleries for holography, and teaching facilities for each new wave of artists. Now we are in another trough, and the future does not seem as certain.

Holographic artists feel like pariahs, entering a new Dark Age with yet more strife over materials, and little support, teaching, or art sales. Yet so much of what artists have achieved with holography is glorious.

I was wrong more than once about the future. In 1968 I first worked with holography to take it out of the science lab and enlarge the boundaries of art. Then, I had visions of particular events happening beyond the millennium. They happened a great deal faster. So now it is wiser not to have a view, but to just keep on regardless.

Margaret Benyon spoke in Defining Traditions 1969 - 1996 and was presented with a lifetime achievement award for her outstanding contribution to the field of creative holography.