Vestiges and Phantoms
March - June, 2020
Ingham Chapman Gallery, University of New Mexico Gallup, Gallup, NM
I became interested in antique, silver-plated housewares that are nowadays rarely used at home. Their skin of silver is hard to sustain, and their core materials have no market value. But they do perform as ghostly reminders of the social status of women past – a lifestyle once preferred, but now largely left behind. Commonly maintained by female family members, they have become a symbol of the women who cherished them to own, use and care for. Some are still held by the family, eliciting memories of beloved ancestors. Some languish in antique stores, the previous owners anonymous and forgotten.
March - June, 2020
Ingham Chapman Gallery, University of New Mexico Gallup, Gallup, NM
I became interested in antique, silver-plated housewares that are nowadays rarely used at home. Their skin of silver is hard to sustain, and their core materials have no market value. But they do perform as ghostly reminders of the social status of women past – a lifestyle once preferred, but now largely left behind. Commonly maintained by female family members, they have become a symbol of the women who cherished them to own, use and care for. Some are still held by the family, eliciting memories of beloved ancestors. Some languish in antique stores, the previous owners anonymous and forgotten.
