Fingerprint Project
Fingerprint Doily
Available
Artists
Statement
Every culture has its own unique traditions of heritage, honoring the passage of life and the objects or legacies people leave behind. This might come in the form of elaborate ceremonies, reliquaries, or heirlooms.
However, when my parents were old enough, they moved as far away from their families and customs as possible and never looked back. As a result, I feel that I have lost touch with my origins and I don’t know much about my own ancestry. What I do know is that my grandparents and most of my extended family live in the Midwest, where the cultural tradition of the locale is apparently to produce and hand down doilies—tons and tons of doilies—as I have a nice sized collection of doilies, table runners, and afghan blankets stored away in boxes to prove this theory. This handmade inheritance has piqued my curiosity as to what traces I will leave behind in this world. Will I pass on cracked antique china, unpaid bills, and my DNA, or simply leave tiny, unnoticed mementos of my existence?