Kerry Phillps: (Un)forgetting

June 25 - September 10, 2022

WAAM is pleased to present the studio archives of Miami-based artist Kerry Phillips. Kerry Phillips: (Un)forgetting Part I transforms WAAM into a living archive of objects and documentation that spans twenty years. (Un)forgetting underscores the often overlooked, unpredictable, and incidental nature of the archival impulse.

How do we gather, collect, and accumulate objects? How are meaning and value ascribed to objects? How do collections assume their own unique identity?  And how do these collected objects convey personal/collective memory over time? Phillips presents us with a nuanced, playful, and meaningful look at the ontological resonance of objects and the ways in which they coexist in a world that humans manipulate. We all possess special mementos, keepsakes, and objects that have personal value.

We might preserve family heirlooms that are passed down from generation to generation, record oral histories of our relatives, save hand-written letters or save unclassifiable items in junk drawers. These acts of recording are potent transmitters of memory.