The Exhibition of Treasures - Larmer Tree Festival 2016
I strung up a trail of picture frames in the woodland at the festival, gave people their own small canvas (recycled from sailmakers' offcuts) and invited them to write or draw about their most prized possession. This had to be something which cannot be upgraded or replaced, and couldn't include people or pets.
Throughout the festival the exhibition grew. The treasured objects people chose to share often revealed much about their keepers as well as about human nature as a whole. It was great to watch how the installation sparked so many conversations and provoked strangers to very quickly talk openly about their lives.
The objects people are most attached to often seem to encapsulate a memory - of a person, time, place or emotion. With the world developing as it is, it is becoming easier to preserve more and more of our lives. Has this changed our relationship with the act of forgetting? Are we afraid to forget? Is it less acceptable to forget now than it would have been at another time?
Throughout the festival the exhibition grew. The treasured objects people chose to share often revealed much about their keepers as well as about human nature as a whole. It was great to watch how the installation sparked so many conversations and provoked strangers to very quickly talk openly about their lives.
The objects people are most attached to often seem to encapsulate a memory - of a person, time, place or emotion. With the world developing as it is, it is becoming easier to preserve more and more of our lives. Has this changed our relationship with the act of forgetting? Are we afraid to forget? Is it less acceptable to forget now than it would have been at another time?
This installation was an extension of my possessions project.
Possessions Project
This project was led by a period of research and culminated in an exhibition.
My research focused on the change of man-made objects over time, the relationship between convenience and necessity, the functionality of objects, the human desire to preserve and document, the nature of consumerism, emotional attachment to possessions, our motives for forming these attachments and our tendency to judge others depending on the things they own. I then became very interested by how prized possessions could became a gateway to people sharing their life stories and starting intimate conversations between strangers.
I talked to a range of people about their most prized possessions. I asked passers-by in the street and also set up a Facebook group where people could send me photos and stories of their treasured objects.
I then drew portraits of these people, depicted with no material 'clues' such as setting, clothes and hairstyles – this was to focus purely on the face and the expression for any clues to the character of the individuals. I also drew the prized objects, and exhibited all these alongside text from people's stories about the objects.
The portraits and objects are drypoint etchings.
Below are excerpts from the exhibition and examples of my development work.
My research focused on the change of man-made objects over time, the relationship between convenience and necessity, the functionality of objects, the human desire to preserve and document, the nature of consumerism, emotional attachment to possessions, our motives for forming these attachments and our tendency to judge others depending on the things they own. I then became very interested by how prized possessions could became a gateway to people sharing their life stories and starting intimate conversations between strangers.
I talked to a range of people about their most prized possessions. I asked passers-by in the street and also set up a Facebook group where people could send me photos and stories of their treasured objects.
I then drew portraits of these people, depicted with no material 'clues' such as setting, clothes and hairstyles – this was to focus purely on the face and the expression for any clues to the character of the individuals. I also drew the prized objects, and exhibited all these alongside text from people's stories about the objects.
The portraits and objects are drypoint etchings.
Below are excerpts from the exhibition and examples of my development work.
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Portraits
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Objects
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Text
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Development Work
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