Make do and Mend, Conflux06, New York

This September I was selected to take part in Conflux 06 in Williamsberg New York, the annual festival for contemporary psycho geography. To find out more read on, or click on the link here or the logo below to discover more about the festival, my project and the other artists involved.
When I arrived in Williamsberg I began to explore the area surrounding the McCaig Welles Gallery, taking photos and looking for objects I could work with for Make do and Mend. Some of the images I took can be seen at my blog Nearly Nothing. One of the first things I discovered amongst the almost overwhelming array of discarded objects left on the streets was a silver ring. It had been lost, crushed underfoot, then presumabley found by a passer by and placed on a bollard on Bedford Avenue. I photographed it, cleaned it with silver polish and took it to neighbouring jewellers where I had it repaired, and engraved with the words "repaired by Hilary Jack". The repaired silver ring became part of an installation of other objects I had found and rejuvenated in some way. All the objects were eventually replaced where I had found them on a walking tour with friends, artists and visitors to Conflux.
Trousers

The other objects I worked with were two pairs of trousers, a man's pair and a woman's pair. These were photographed and taken to a professional dry cleaners. Later in the week I collected and returned the clothes close to where I had found them.

Umbrella
During Conflux it rained for two days. The streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn were littered with discarded, broken, black, umbrellas; the kind you can buy in a 99 cents store. I collected several and repaired as many as I could, returning them to their original location when I had done so.

Click on the logo to follow the link to the Conflux and Glowlab website.....