Major Project Cherished and Forgotten

The term bric-á-brac comes from the French saying à bric et à brac which means “at random, any old way”. In Victorian times bric-a-brac was considered lesser objets d’art that decorated one’s mantelpiece, shelf or display cabinet, these days it lines the shelves of every charity shop. Throughout the project I have scoured the haphazardly arranged shelves to build a small collection of ornaments and figurines. In treating them, and photographing them, like valuable antiques or historical artefacts I have aimed to present them in a new light. The second hand nature of the objects is an important aspect; they have little or no monetary value and are free from any sentimental value they once had, placing them between the status of cherished and forgotten. I have explored notions of contemporary archaeology and the psychology behind why people own and cherish such objects to inform the project, however it is ultimately down to the viewer in how they interpret the images and collection.

Introductory Project -Began project by exploring local community, which led to the idea of charity shops and then bric-a-brac. -Developed the project by collecting donated bric-a-brac and experimenting in the studio. -Critical Research topic: The psychology behind people’s relationships with objects and possessions, specifically hoarding disorder.

Object Collection Choosing the objects -They had to be from charity shops. -Souvenirs, ornaments, figurines -Unusual but common -Not too plastic/cheap/mass- produced/modern-looking -Visually interesting -Cultural representations

Themes -Mixture of documentary, still life and fine art -Contemporary Archaeology / Material Culture -The nature of bric-a-brac – what bric-a-brac refers to, collectibles, why people buy and display it. -The value of the objects - why they are treasured when they have little value -Representation – what the objects represent and how I have presented them

Research Overview Racializing the Parlor: Race and Victorian Bric-a-Brac Consumption - Paul Mullins: “…a wide range of Americans shared the conviction that material objects illustrated and forged their possessor’s character and values“ “Reducing these goods to frivolous ornaments disregards that even a seemingly “whimsical” objects can harbor a penetrating, yet oblique, social commentary.“ “Bric-a-brac could evoke pleasant yet inchoate sentiments about a romanticized past, household class identity, Western cultural and racial roots, patriarchy, personal style, aristocratic behavior, or any number of things. It did not matter if a consumer could not clearly articulate the appeal of a given object; if anything, enigmatic motifs were among the most common in bric-a-brac.” Ralph Mills – Contemporary Archaeology/Material Culture: “The ubiquity of miniatures–cheap and cheerful, mostly ceramic, small-scale representations of a bewildering range of originals, real and imagined–indicates that these objects play an important role in contemporary society, just as they apparently did in earlier periods. Through them I hope to learn something about the people who discarded them, people perhaps not normally represented in museums and galleries, as well as those who subsequently acquire them, both today and in the nineteenth century.”

Artist Research Martin Parr – Signs of the Times (personal taste in the British home) Yang Jian – Unclaimed Objects (exhibition of found objects) Lisa Snook – found objects re-presented Josef Sudek Bruce Peterson

Joakim Blockstrom The Heirloom Project Will Ellis Wesley Law

Visual Development

Portfolio