Golden Aged

What memories can be stored within objects? These objects that bear partial witness to the passing of our lives, of generations stubbornly repeating the mistakes of old, dressing and ageing differently, yet undeniably human in their ways.

These objects that watch us arrive, our lamps and dishes watch over each other, while offering a home to our trinkets and adding personality to our living rooms. They observe us getting old, flirting with death and playing with reason until we finally depart, worthy or inconsequential, dressed in wrinkles and bad habits . They feel vertigo upon remembering the music of a past time, but new tunes will come humming…. They will hold new books and see us get dressed in our new outfits and synthetic plastics, looking to reside in our own present.

The hands that put this exhibition together will have to wait until 2070 to be able to brag or lament about the 80 years ago in which they danced. What stories will their belongings tell? What pain will they harbor? Which organs will surrender first?

We won’t reach old age the way we imagine, because that way no longer exists, and our most immediate references are gone with the hands of the clock. Elegance, authenticity and wisdom are virtues that can sometimes only be granted with time; receiving them with grace is admiration-worthy.

We answer these questions with a celebration of the Golden Aged: photographs, portraits, illustration and restored pieces of furniture and household objects.

Isabel Hernández