What brings value to a thing? Where do we and the world of objects intersect and cross-pollinate to create meaning, history and identity? This project explores the motivations behind the emotional, psychological and existential desires that drive the passion to collect.

Today objects of all sorts beget collectors. The expansion of museums worldwide reflects this on a larger social scale. Contemporary collecting encompasses every kind of object, from high culture to low, from the mass produced to the unique, from things that might be considered trash to the most rare specimen. Yet many collectors struggle to say anything significant about why they collect. Their search is directed outward. I am attempting to look inward. Memory and energy accumulate in objects that carry cultural and personal history forward. Many objects seem to have a patient, silent life of their own. Walter Benjamin first defined this as the “aura” of an object, something which enables it to return our gaze. James Elkins suggests that objects themselves are vying for our attention. Akin to falling in love, there are invisible strands at work when the hunting gaze is returned.

In looking at collecting, I am exploring vision, desire, identity, memory and history. My work seeks a deeper understanding of human nature, and of existence itself, by exploring areas where the conscious and unconscious meet, where states of being and energy might transcend the physical limitations of the body.