“She still has a clear picture of that small wooden antique armchair that belonged to her grandparents, the one her mother brought with her to her new house as a young bride. It had two large cushions on which her mother sat to nurse her and, a few years later, her brother. She remembers how in those moments she would fall asleep peacefully because she felt her mother present in the room; the dark did not scare her anymore. In fact, her grandmother, decades earlier, had nursed her mother right there! And today, how wonderful it is to recognize that that same armchair was the site of countless nights spent nursing her own children.”
Through years of moving and relocating, since her university days, she always brought the small armchair with her, to her home where she now lives with her husband and children. An Object of Connectionthat has been a part of her life and makes up part of her identity.
When she entrusted me with the armchair, she described how it was not just an object, but a place that held the stories of her family. It’s literally a space that houses important moments.
The combination of this wave of feelings, memories and images served as the inspiration from which I created Yemanjà, her object of Identity Craft. The elements and symbolism contained in this armchair were able to emerge fully and honor that bond.
My experience of Identity Craft meant transforming an object full of history that was seemingly silent, into something with a revived story. My armchair emerged from a ten-year silence and told a story about the lives that had passed through it and the interwoven narratives it has witnessed. In a time characterized by speed and superficiality, where objects are continually replaced, the experience of Identity Craft marked the recognition of the value of that which surrounds us—something that, imbued with our emotions, accompanies our experiences from generation to generation, constantly renewing itself while maintaining its origins.
— Lisa