Whether purchased new or upcycled, found or passed on from generation to generation, made by machine or human hands–objects tell a story. They provide insight into both their maker and their collector, clues to our individual and community identities, and they serve as a marker of time.  

 In 2021, what stories can we share about where we find ourselves and where we yearn to be, those we hold close and those we miss dearly, the past we mourn, and the future we envision based on the objects in our possession? 

The six themes of this exhibition, composed of images submitted by members of the Manny Cantor Center community, showcase our relationships to the objects that carried us through a year filled with uncertainty.

For some, these items carried a semblance of much-needed normalcy; for others, they invited curiosity and wonder.  

Through narratives and works on display, the Life of Objects also celebrates our youngest makers — children of our Early Childhood classrooms — as they unearth their own creativity through their exploration of objects in their environment.  

From marker caps to special lovies, from understanding wolves to mapping the city, the young artists take us on a journey of new ways of seeing. We hope we captured a glimpse into their reality, their learning, and their wonderment through this exhibition of storytelling through objects.

Life of Objects was published in Spring 2021