Materials: Silk, linen, dye, air-dry clay, and resin casts of air-dry clay objects. Reproductions of objects from the RISD Museum collection in off-site storage include two paintings by Joseph Lindon Smith and one by his daughter, Rebecca Smith; an article titled “An Apsara from Angkor-Wat” from the Bulletin of the Rhode Island School of Design, July 1924; and letters exchanged between Joseph Lindon Smith and the RISD Museum director, November 4, 1919–May 15, 1924, Ikea shelves

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An interplay of soft fabrics printed with images of historical documents and threads that drape over storage shelving, soft presence, hard absence offers an alternate system where the Museum’s collection can be more easily accessed. Silk and linen threads wrap and tangle around museum paperwork and reproductions of objects not available for public viewing, denying the "return of the gaze" upon a cultural object that has been rendered through a western gaze. Paintings that can’t be requested for in-person viewing are reproduced in air-dry clay and resin, making them visible to the public. This work aims to reconsider the conventions of collections and storage and works to challenge the inaccessibility within standard museum practices.

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Photos by Erik Gould, images courtesy the RISD Museum