THE. BUTTON BOX
& THE MOTHERS
Gathered around a table of family heirlooms and handwritten fragments, visitors are invited into a space shaped by the presence of women who are no longer here, yet remain woven into the fabric of everyday life.
Part archive, part conversation, these interconnected installations celebrate the stories carried within ordinary things and asks what we choose to hold on to, and why.
This installation grew from clearing my mother's belongings and asking a simple question: what do we do with the things that remain? Button boxes, handwritten notes, photographs, furniture, tableware, and family stories became starting points for a wider exploration of memory, inheritance, and care.
The project gradually evolved into two connected works. The Button Box brings together inherited and loaned button boxes alongside the stories they contain, while The Mothers centres on my own maternal lineage. At its centre is a shared table where conversation, remembrance, and participation become part of the work itself, informed by ideas of relational aesthetics and collective memory
Through gathering, storytelling, hospitality, and exchange, the installation celebrates the women who came before us and considers what we choose to carry forwards.
The Button Box / The Mothers, 2026 : Participatory installation comprising inherited treasures, tea and cake. 3.4 x 3.4 m
University of Brighton MA Fine At Summer Show, 2026