2020-2023 | Domestic Delusions
“Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of the home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of poetry that was lost. ”
The Domestic De (Illusions) series investigates memory, nostalgia, fantasy and notions of feminine identity using vintage objects from women’s lives. A museum of remixed curisorities: worn wooden handles on serving spoons serve as testament to the domestic toil of ‘housewives’; pearl and crystal necklaces embody ideas of glamour and cocktail parties; children’s toys to entertain little people whilst mothers worked in the house, rainbow coloured picnic cups for the Sunday Drive, and suitcases to escape with. Like a rainbow bowerbird , on a quest for authenticity Cunningham hunts and collects coloured vintage objects, upcycling and transforming these memory containers from our cultural hoardings giving them new life; and making environmental sustainable artwork that prevents discarded objects from a demise in a landfill grave.
Images: Andrew Sikorski, Art Atelier Photography