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primary interest was the artifacts: steamer trunks,
dinnerware, office equipment, garden tools, medical
instruments, etc., whose storage filled cavernous rooms.
We photographed these mundane, damaged objects that
were then cataloged, entered into a computer database,
and stored by the Museum for their purposes. The same
photographs served us as the starting point for the
Ellis Island Artifact Reuse Project. These artifacts,
either remaining in storage or sealed in a plastic museum
display case, were to be deprived of their utilitarian
purposes. Their "life" had essentially ended.
In an attempt to prevent this, we coupled our documentary
photograph with a staged photograph of the same object
being "reused" in a contemporary setting.
The
Lower East Side Tenement Museum building was undergoing
a transformation not unlike Ellis Island's. We were
requested to fulfill a number of projects there, one
specifically designed to follow-up the Ellis artifacts
project. Not wishing to duplicate the prior project,
we made some modifications. The B&W documentary
side of the diptych grouped a number of similar artifacts
by their usage and added shadows (souls perhaps).
Because of the limited museum display and storage
facilities, the staged side demanded a greater pictorial
thrust from our scenarios to liberate the artifacts
from oblivion; thus, we heightened the narrative through
props, story lines and human actors. A Ouija board,
left in the dark for 40 years, was restored. Once
again it would feel the pleasure of a hand on its
surface and experience its utilitarian fulfillment.
Certainly this occurred when we photographed it, but,
now, who is to say that this does not occur every
time the photograph is viewed.
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