Autobiography, 2011 - present
I come from a family of collectors and I was taught at a very young age the importance of possessions. They define what we like to observe, what we perceive ourselves to be, what we once lost, and what we want to remember. Autobiography started in 2002 when I collected my lunch bags because I hoped to make a book from the worn paper. Years later, they became a chronological marker that defines my life.
There are three parts to the series: objects used to mark time (12 for 7 Years as an Adjunct Professor: 2000-2007), items that pinpoint a specific event centered around change or loss (5 Objects Photographed Before Thrown Away, We are Not that Different, He and I), and lists. Christian Boltanski’s inventories from the 1970s in addition to Sol Lewitt’s Autobiography 1980 are important influences.
I save until an event occurs that indicates I should stop. It could be as life changing as moving to a new part of the country or as minute as my mother buying me a blue insulated lunch bag. I monumentalize the mundane, elevating stained lunch bags and sagging swimsuits to a higher status. These inconsequential objects are one aspect of my identity, easily disposable yet somehow kept.
