Anja Crabb | MA Fashion & the Environment | London College of Fashion 2012

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MNEMOSYNE◊

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A Pre-Raphaelite interpretation of the goddess Mnemosyneby Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1881

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Memory was personified in ancient Greece as the goddess Mnemosyne, who doubled as the goddess of wisdom. As the mother of all muses, she gave birth to Clio, the goddess of history. Thus, memory gives birth to history. We purchase, wear and combine clothing in order to express our ever-evolving identities, a public display of who we are or would like to be. Old clothing allows us to remember who we were, perhaps we could be that person again, and it allows us to discard previous identities by discarding the associated clothing. A mass-produced clothing item becomes unique through the memories attached to it and in turn is kept because of those memories. Like photographs, those placed in the album are ‘good moments’ and unhappy ones are usually discarded. Our possessions become material manifestations of our memories. We unpack a box which contains ‘material manifestations of memories’ collected over the last 50 years. The box has survived decades and intercontinental moves. I ask Gary what the items mean and why they have been kept. What happens to a person’s clothes when the person passes away? Artist Miyako Ishiushi photographs the personal possessions of her deceased mother – mostly clothing and undergarments which had been rendered useless with her passing – to create a touch point between the past and the present. The physical nearness and intimacy of clothing is often emotionally laden, as is the case with Siegrun, with whom I spoke about her deceased mother’s possessions.

PREFACE

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A BOX OF MEMORIES...

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... UNPACKED.

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A Keno ticket from the Silver Spur Casino, Reno, Nevada. Keno is a casino lottery game. I worked in several casinos as a Keno writer. On the back of this ticket I wrote with a Chinese brush in black ink (the tools of the trade at that time): "This is the meat I butcher every day to make my bread. 2-5-75". This is a signpost in years I spent in Lake Tahoe and Reno.

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Selective Service System Notice of Classification card (folded about as big as a credit card). During the military draft in the 1960s-70s, all young men had such a card. Many of those opposing the draft and the Vietnam war burned theirs in public demonstrations. I kept mine (ca. 1967-70). Was drafted but refused induction into the military. The card marks a turbulent and historical era and a turbulent phase in my personal life.

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A Deutsche Bundespost telegram I received from my ex-wife informing me that the divorce papers had completed. It was sent from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I received the telegramm in Wiesbaden. Her message: “Cheers we are free again October 15”. Must be 1982. Kept because it was a kind of reference date for me at the time.

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rabbA rock from Pyramid Lake (on a Paiute Indian reservateion) near Reno.

My bother was visiting me in Reno. We drove out to the lake, took LSD, and marvelled at the stars from a deserted stretch of beach that one summer night. Ended up taking this rock with me, don’t know why. What it means: it reminds me of that special night and of my brother.

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A small end-of-school-term booklet given to me by a class of adult students in Dalian, China, 1984. It is also the end of my 1 year contract at the Dalian Language Institute. The students write thanks-yous, some put in small photos of themselves, and we part ways. It was a very special year in China.

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“Most recent addition is a souvinir from Laos, Christmas 2010. It is made of water buffulo horn, has something engraved on it and a string through a hole so it can be hung around the neck. Kept because it was the most memorable christmas/new years time I've had in decades. It was a short but great time.”

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◊* I ASKED SIEGRUN

WHY SHE DID NOT KEEP ANY OF

HER MOTHER’S CLOTHING WHEN

SHE PASSED AWAY.◊

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“Only through your question* did I become aware of the “physical nearness” the memories of these clothes. This nearness I cannot bear yet: The yellow bed cardi Mutti had worn till the very end, and otherwise usually when she did not feel well, so this is particularly burdended. The pin cushion similarly was held in her hands…the jewelry..around her neck and so on. The China is burdened with many recollections of the “gute Stube” (dining room), which was used only on Sundays, for visitors or for festivities. The memories carry more shadows than light. Whereas the silverware is rather neutral, it is an inheritance from somewhere in this family, and it has been passed on from someone. We have never used it. It is a nice design and kind of special, and I enjoy passing it onto my daughter. The other silverware (which I kept) was a set I had chosen as a teenager for my dowry, and every birthday or Christmas a piece or two was added. By the time I was grown up I did not like it any more – I preferred a more modern plain design and handed it back to my incredulous parents.

That’s how it is with those memories…”

CONCERNING MY MOTHER’S THINGS...

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“Certainly this was a coat for Sundays, because of the fur …! It is a typical coat of my mom’s: simple and plain, “timeless”, in order to survive seasons and fashions, and it needs a little hat…”

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“Yes, she looked good in that and she liked to wear it. As a child I did not understand why this color was called “altrosa” [literal translation: old pink] and tended to say this skirt makes her young.”

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“This is the yellow bed cardi Mutti had worn till the very end, and otherwise usually when she did not feel well. It is particularly burdended. It’s hand-knitted.”

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“Oh yes, the fine white summer blouse, with the typical thin cuff round the neck, as I remember it from many other blouses. My mother liked this one, and I can see her happy smile.”

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“She crocheted this herself, trebles, daily household wear.”

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“A “Trauerbluse” - mourning blouse. She never wore black but from the death of her husband on that was the only colour she wore until the end.”

100% recycled stockDesign - williamhuxford.eu

Special thanks to Siegrun and Gary for sharing their stories.

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