Heirloom - Csíki Szidónia
5-31 oct 2021
Investigations of currency and sentimental value in contemporary jewelry
[a few words from the artist]
Jewelry has always provided currency—not strictly monetary—to purchase status and identity, as well as attachments. Along with its aesthetic, heirloom jewelry and objects have had a life of their own. They are being inherited, worn, they keep accruing meaning, they’re symbols of remembrance, keep changing relationships, they’re being last in the line of financial help. Even though they are often made of precious materials, most of the time their sentimental value greatly surpasses their monetary value.
Heirloom pieces store melancholy, they are closely tied to death and nostalgia for times and people long gone. At the same time, they are tokens that stay the same even though time seems to pass all too fast.
I’d like to take on this melancholy and nostalgia, stop the time at that very moment of vulnerability, and connection to ancestors. I’d also like to create a contrast between the immortal and the very much perishable nature of our bloodlines, and ourselves.
As for the materials I used, bones are traditionally a translation of memento mori, and tattoos of ancestors, immortalized in varying hypostases of their lives, are encased in ’’timepieces’’ they once could have worn. The precious shine of gold is a center-element in shapes of spoons and brooches, which are also often an heirloom object; as well as gold nuggets, the molten form of jewelry reduced to their pure material form—never losing its value. Pearls, chains, smudged typography ink and old driftwood are also used in conjunction with the main materials of these contemporary jewelry pieces. The aim is to transform and reimagine heirloom’s aesthetic and meaning by impeding on their wearability and by linking them back to their core sentiments.
Embracing attachments, these pieces can be worn on chest as statements instead of status signifiers, a token of respect for their stories in people’s lives and a personal connection to the passing of time.