E is for Ephemera--The Beauty of the Impermanent #A2ZChallenge

Ephemera Vulgata (garden variety Mayfly)

Ephemera:
From the Greek: Ephemeron--a short-lived insect. Members of the family Ephemeridae include dragon and damsel flies as well as may flies in the genus Ephemera.

For the rest of us: the detritus of our lives: concert tickets, bus tokens, valentine's day cards, matchbooks, packaging, coupons: objects meant to be useful for a brief period of time.

And then what?

Advocates of simplicity say it should be thrown away.

I have tried.

But I don't think they're looking close enough.

Simply because it is not meant to be durable doesn't mean much of it isn't a tiny window into some artist's mind.

I am not ashamed to say I buy many things based on the cleverness or beauty of its packaging. I consider this a way of supporting the arts--manufacturers paid someone to design the structure, the image, the lettering. It may not be as grand and sweeping as an operatic performance, but the opera itself is ephemeral as the ticket. And no less beautiful because of it.

Still-I have become a sort of curator of ephemera: the small clever visual jokes, the quality of the material, the beauty of the text. The memory of the music from the opera.

Collaged 1957 Horse Show Program
Sarah Cannibal for Hipique

There are potential problems, of course. They do pile up.

I'm forever puzzling over what I can do with these small pieces of art:

I've been taking second hand band boxes at thrift stores and making funny little compositions: Kentucky Derby programs, horse show programs from the 1950's, wine bottle labels.

Re-purposed vintage Hat Box. Sarah Cannibal for Hipique

And even this is only packaging.
Just a box, after all.

And then there's these little labels for my up-cycled and custom clothing by Sarah Cannibal:

Label Pouch for Sarah Cannibal: Labels cut from items used; random tooth;
vintage button; a cord from puli dog

Comments

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Show Up, Shut Up, Wear Beige

Instructions to mothers of the groom. The reason why groomsmen all wear the same suit to a wedding--so if the groom doesn't show up, everyone can just take a step to the left. The people on that side of the church are just props, baby. Your role, as mother of the groom, is to provide a groom. And maybe a brother for a spare. The extent of your input is limited to saying how lovely everything is. The bride's strapless ballgown in the church? Why, it's lovely, of course. The mother of the bride's equally revealing gown to show off her boob job? Lovely. The new wife of the bride's father who describes herself as a "cougar" (in the latter part of her nine lives) (meow!)? Nope! Nope! She's so lovely. The "blending" ceremony in which all the members of the bridal party dance around and fill a vase with pink and blue vials of sand to symbolize the "blending" of two souls into one purple-ish vase of sand...or something? Lovely, lovely, love...

Second Hand, Second Thoughts

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