Everyday altars
May 2, 2025
At the interface between the public and private world, window sills are strange, beautiful spaces. Collectors of curated chaos, they are an assemblage of the tender excesses of our everydays: dried flowers, pill bottles, Asian lady beetles and a healthy layer of dust.
For some, it’s an extension of a bookshelf or nightstand, but others take it further, gathering scraps of memory and memorabilia, fragments of our symbolically rich lives.
This collection seeks to explore the expressive breadth of these ubiquitous spaces: both curated and random, sacred tableau and profane receptacle.
Windows allow us to perceive the exterior, to look beyond the glass—but also are revelatory of interior worlds. This is an invitation to consider that sliver of glass between the constant movement outside—gusts of coastal winds, torrents of people spilling out of class, an errant frisbee—and the calm inside—a flickering LED candle, a couple of mugs, some sentimental Polaroid.
This drama of everyday material culture unfolds across Coles Tower common rooms, Chamberlain Hall, Burnett House, 20 Page Street, Osher Hall and Coleman Hall.
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