Having spent an unusual amount of time in various New York City flea markets as of late, the strange tension between death and rebirth keeps coming up for me. I’m always so drawn to the bizarre trinkets, discarded by their previous owners, waiting patiently to die in the mounds of junk or to be swept up and resurrected by the romantic inclinations of a passerby who sees the beauty in the death of the object’s previous occupation and/or the possibility of its rebirth and reincarnation.

Maybe this is coming up because it’s spring?  TS Elliot wrote

“April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.” 

Considering global warming, I think April counts as May these days. It so clearly represents the nostalgia for what we’re leaving behind andthe hope for what is to come. 

I love reusing and recycling objects and fabric. There is power in giving “life” again and it weaves the past, present and future together in such an intriguing way. I bought some used lace from the last flea market I went to and intend to add it to a shirt that needs extension. Pretty excited about it. Who knows who/how this lace was used before? What was its journey into my hands? What would they think of its new home now? My imagination can run wild…

-Alex