Cindy Shebley Art Collections

Artifacts

I’ve felt passionate about photography since my uncle gave me a camera at 9 years old. It was a vintage (even then) Kodak Brownie film camera. I wish I still had that old camera. Somewhere along the line I let it go. But the truth is, if I still possessed the camera, it would probably be tucked away in a dusty box at the back of a closet. Not always a photographer, my career path has taken many twists and turns. Including spending the last twenty years as a ‘Picker’. That’s someone who searches for vintage items, cleans and/or restores them and then re-unites the items with a collector. Whenever I see a Brownie Camera while ‘picking’ I think of the day I received my first camera and how it touched me. Such a simple gift had such a huge impact on my life. That connection has made me keenly aware of how objects can trigger one’s memories. It’s not just me – but a collective thing. We all seem to have a ‘thingamabob’ that recalls a time or feeling. Sometimes, while working, I find a cherished note lovingly stashed away with a sentimental item. Most often they are little abridgments left with a travel souvenir, first bootie, or treasured gift that marked a milestone in someone’s life. Holding it I wonder how the memento traveled through time. Was it found now and again by its owner or was it proudly displayed? I’m certain that by noting the occasion its person was hoping to preserve that treasure for a lifetime and possibly for generations to come. How did it come to be tossed aside by the surviving family either unknowingly or unemotionally? There’s something a bit tragic about it ending up in an outsider’s hands. That has set me on a mission to photograph the special notes and keepsakes I find. I want to honor their stories. I may be a stranger to the original owner, but the importance was marked by him or her. We’ll never know how or why the trinket came to be forgotten. My goal for the photographs in this series is to offer a glimpse of what opening a neglected shoe box and finding that treasured keepsake might have felt like and hopefully, collectively, keep it from being forgotten for awhile longer. I call the series “Artifacts.”