Inventory of My Mother’s House

Inventoryof My Mother’s House, 1994, isan installation of images of the objects that filled my parents' house. As a group these photographs reflect boththeir willingness to consume the abundant products that symbolize the goodlife, as well as the facility with which these objects slide into obsolescence,a treasure trove of postindustrial kitsch. These images also testify that mass production has created an effluviumof products with either little or questionable value--things for their ownsake--objects whose functions are emotional rather than physical, mantles ofcollectibles and Franklin Furnace statuary that stand for the"authentic."

In many ways my parents' house was atrue postmodern space. Organic andunintentional, its evolution from necessity to ornament mirrored both theireconomic status and the robust health of an insatiable economy inclined towardthe production of trifles my parents worked to consume. The walls of their house displayed all erasand styles, all represented with equal weight, nothing was more important thananything else, and so nothing could be, or ever was, thrown away. This collection of discardables,impossible to discard, decorated my childhood.

Each object, and the collection of photographicimages I have created, are infused with memories of rooms constantly andcontinually redecorated, and a home long ago abandoned. That my parents steadfastly refused to partwith their vast collection makes me wonder if these objects are incantations oftheir past; or if anything can be resurrected given the proper time, place andmedium. As for my process of cataloging,each room and its use were encoded with the hierarchy of gendereddomesticity. While the house belonged tomy parents, and certain objects were my father's, the collection wasorchestrated by my mother. Together they create a narrative that moves beyondthe discretion of one nuclear family, encompassing the post war America utopia.