Recently, I heard a talk about Artifactual Communication. The idea, in a nutshell, is that the stuff on your desk, or the way you decorate your locker or your home communicates information about you. The word artifact makes sense to me because essentially I accumulate, covet and adore artifacts. I've been carting around my Grandmother's collection of match books for ages. She collected them on trips she took and at weddings she attended between the 1960s and the 1980s (I know because she wrote on the back of each one). I often wonder what those artifacts say about me, and I guess I know that their presence means I have a hard time letting go of the past. I like simple objects from the past that were often used and cast aside without thought. I like objects people touched and fiddled with everyday. Perhaps she sat in a church hall listening to the toast to the bride and she turned the match book over in her hands. For me, it is like holding on to a moment from another life. My desk at work clearly communicates that I have children in my life. I am continually curating a little art display on my hutch. I keep most things at eye level. Some art stays up for a long time and changes jobs with me but some only lasts for a few days and then is replaced by a newer piece. I surround myself with it to keep the children in my mind but also to have a chance to catch glimpses of their inner selves that I'm usually too hassled to see. What do you surround yourself with? What's on your desk?
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