In What’s Yours is Mine, I explore the idea posited in On Longing by Susan Stewart that souvenirs work to authenticate experiences for viewers, act as stand-ins for specific places and times, and represent “not the lived experience of its maker but the ‘secondhand’ experience of its possessor/owner.”
I am interested in creating a microcosm to explore how souvenirs and the tourist industry affect people’s experiences with events – namely, this exhibition and the work in it. At the same time, I am interested in the role that objects might play in "legitimizing" the careers of emerging artists and discussing what it means to re-fetishize art viewing in the gallery rather than viewing it on a decontextualized online platform where we see flattened versions of sculpture on Tumblr and lone photographs that were once part of a robust series.
The objects in this series comfortably fit into the category of kitschy souvenirs one might find on vacation; miniature versions of the object, key chains, decorative spoons, t-shirts, postcards, mugs, pens, etc. Perhaps you’ll only know you’ve “made it” as an artist when your art has been slapped on as many t-shirts as the Mona Lisa.
