On Longing

"The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale."

We have a fairly small cat, but this is her all stretched out, with Mason for a reference. In all, the cat is about shoulder width. 

"Capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience."

Even though this is just a cut out of a feather with the words, "love you" written on it, it conveys the feeling of love. It specifically cannot love, since it is an object, but it carries the experience of love. 

"The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body."

This was a picture I took of South of the Border in South Carolina. It is arguably one of the most prominent and well known places to get terrible little premade souvenir items. You can find so many assorted themed items that you can just take home with you, and take a piece of the south with you. 

"To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy."

I chose another picture of my cat, because cats truly are special. She came to us from outside, and now we have mini lion roaming around the house. Tigers are definitely exotic creatures, and even though cats are domestic now, they span from a long line of exotic big cats. She is a treasure to us, but she's small and has unknown origins, so it really feels like an exotic souvenir. 

"...the nostalgic input of the handmade in a 'plastic world'."

It's a plastic egg!! It's whole world is plastic!! It's face was hand made. It gives it the ability to convey an emotion, which connects it to the feeling world.