Hailey Ferguson

Holding On To Something, Somewhere.

Holding on to Something, Somewhere, is a multidisciplinary, socially engaged artwork dedicated to the repair and reinvention of donated cherished furniture as a performance of memorialization of personal histories. With the furniture’s reinvention inspired by the owner’s sentimentality, the artwork aims to merge those emotions and the piece itself to preserve the furniture and memory further into time. The artwork takes the form of an exhibition of the results of four pieces of furniture, donated by four collaborators, refinished and reinvented. As well as, a publication outlining the stories of their sentimentality, and journey to completion.

“When I was young I was always off in my own world. I sat all summer long in my mother’s bed at sunny orange eight pm, listening to the older kids still playing through the window fan raging on. Waiting on her making us movies snacks in the kitchen, I gazed into the vanity mirror, running my fingers through the decorative notches of her headboard. She had the same bedroom set since I was born, I always admired how large and bulky it was, how it towered over my small body. A thick mahogany matching set with gaudy swirls and bulbous accents. Given to my parents from my Nana, was my first concept of an heirloom.Not being familiar with my extended family, I always pined for stories of their past. I soon learned that objects made them real. When I held an object in my hand that belonged to a far-off name, it was like I could feel them for a moment. But like fading memories, objects can slowly disappear too. Cat scratched, broken knobs, rusty nails at some point the once-beloved bedroom set sat outside a dumpster serving only the purpose of potential firewood. And with the set gone memories of the mid-summer movie marathons of my childhood, dwindled like the slow setting sun of that evening. As an artist, and a person, I feel a responsibility to not let this fate befall treasured items that still have life left in them. This is the root of my thesis. Using social media I offered my community the opportunity to have their cherished items refinished and reimagined. I knew I wasn’t the only person with attachments to old damaged furniture, and with this project, I could give people’s cherished furniture a new life and keep their stories alive. Hence, Holding on to Something, Somewhere, came alive as a multidisciplinary, socially engaged artwork dedicated to the repair and reinvention of cherished furniture as a performance of memorialization of personal histories. With their reinvention inspired by the owner’s sentimentality, the artwork aims to manifest those emotions into the piece itself. By connecting in backyards and through phone calls with four collaborators, I was able to see their lives through their stories and explore what they were holding on to, and where. ”