Released in 2022, Halifax, Canada
How we form and preserve our traditions is found in our ‘stuff.’
Mama taught me to crochet and sew in the summer of ‘63. On our old working Singer I made dresses from scratch, no need for a pattern. I finally gave the machine to a new mother needing to mend and create for her infant and toddler. I wept for days.
Did I miss the machine or the memories connected to it? Memory boxes were as popular as origami jewelry to assemble. In one lesson at the San Francisco Public library, one rainy night during the monsoon season of 2017, I learned to craft birds. Gifts that year were small paper sculptures and earrings with gold plated hooks. I could make, or mend just about anything. What to do with these fragile collectibles now?
Many given gifts, purchased, sold, bartered, stolen, retrieved or of lost origins. Like a fixative, or human elixir, mementos brought a calming effect. Inside and outside my home items set things right. A balance. Magical memories are contained in why and how the gift was given.
