MILLICENT KENNEDY STUDIOS

We hope the future is listening, and the past hopes we are too

-Rick Prelinger

The archive hopes that chosen objects will extend their stories to the public and new generations. But items without context can leave us with more questions than answers. This is the investigation my current series of artworks approaches, can we feel connected to the workers of the past through their tools? “Resting Places for Objects of Labor” is interested in collecting and archiving broken and worn devices and surgical instruments, and creating artworks that hold, and make space for them and their stories. This process utilizes donated items that are hand sewn into naturally dyed fabrics and displayed in custom archival boxes.

The found objects in my work bear witness to their uses and tell the story of their owners’ goals long after the person is gone. Allowing us to consider them as an extension of the human body and experience. Stories of the implement’s owners are included with the works when available, while mysterious items are researched. To hold something, and make it a place to rest is to show deep affection, as well as curiosity. This is visible in the slow processes of hand sewing these donated implements into dyed and printed fabrics, and constructing custom enclosures for them. The process of making textiles and vessels by hand connects my labor to previous generations of makers, joining my process to known and unknown workers of the past.

The custom cases for objects relate to traditional archival work as notions of burial. The emplacements used in this series however are held tight, rendered unusable in these shrouds, they are both preserved and entombed. This dichotomy of archived but also negated runs deep in the work. Broken and worn devices are reimagining for their wealth of resonance through storytelling and in their preservation, have a second life.