I have to confess that I am a collector. I come from a long line of collectors and I really try to control my collecting, but there it is nonetheless. I was talking about collecting stuff to my brother one day and he expressed that he had always wanted a Cabinet of Curiosities to hold his own collection. I thought a bit and agreed, “Oh yes, that would be quite wonderful!” A special place for all my unique things would make the collection a positive thing rather than a habit to be confessed. Somehow naming things as curiosities and creating a space for them changes how they are perceived.
Suddenly all the odd little things that I gather and bring home are bestowed with a higher status. They are labeled as curiosities and are organized and photographed and put together in ways that are pleasing and meaningful, giving them greater value. A nest that fell out of a tree is no longer just garden debris but is now a piece of natural history or a metaphor for a stage of life. Dead insects are invaluable jewels, butterflies become symbols of transformation, and fallen birds are reminders to make the most of our brief lives.
Cabinets of curiosities were first popular during the Renaissance; cabinets were not necessarily a piece of furniture, but could be a room or a whole building. This month, I am exhibiting a small portion of my collection of curiosities in the form of artworks, some presented as individual specimens, and others put together into dioramas of a sort, in the tradition of the collectors who first created cabinets of curiosities. Some of the specimens I present are more mundane and from my local explorations, others are more exotic and have traveled great distance to become part of my collection.
These kinds of collections have historically been brought together to spur the imagination and stir curiosity and wonder, and thereby learning. So you are invited to carefully inspect each artwork here, to reflect on the secrets that are revealed and to imagine where each thing came from and what it means. Perhaps you will even be inspired to start a collection of you own or simple add to one you’ve already started.