"You should never think about the pot independent of those who might gather with it. A thing without people is not really a thing."
Theaster Gates
Theaster Gates
Detail. Daughters of the Island: the Marjorie King Collection at the Sainsbury Library. Photo: Benjamina Dadzie
Objects stored in archives and museum collections hold unlimited narrative possibilities, just waiting for us to find them and give them new life.
Led by the marvelously talented Rachael Minott, a group of graduate students mined an entire collection and found a story of female agency and the development of multiple Pacific communities in an initiative that was driven exclusively by women.
On display at the Sainsbury Library, Daughters of the Island: Stories from the Marjorie King Collection, highlights objects donated by Marjorie King to the Sainsbury Center for the Visual Arts in Norwich UK, and shows us the results of this story.
Other potential stories: Indigenous makers and tourism; missionary activities in the Pacific; culture as capital; technology and craft.