Art making as philosophical inquiry
Whenever I visit my parents’ house I browse the objects that I’ve been saving for the next time I look in my closet: a prom dress, a science fair poster, camp regalia, ticket stubs. These things are the breadcrumbs that lead me back to myself.
My project reimagines a home inventory record as a more poetic and provocative type of archive. It’s a series of three artworks that blend personal artifacts with technology. The resulting hybrids challenge the viewer to rethink their relationships with and understanding of objects. In two of the pieces, seemingly-mundane objects become unique signifiers of human experiences. Collections of objects can allude to stories that are greater than the sum of their parts.
But what if objects don’t exist only for, about, or because of us? What if our anthropocentric perspective of objects doesn’t portray them in their entirety? In the third piece, personal artifacts take on a life of their own and transition from objects that are guarded by humans to objects that guard each other.
