Nothing would be the same without you
Klara Espersen | Nykøbing Mors, Denmark
Inspired by Henry Sheldon’s 1884 “Memorial Chair”, which is made of wooden fragments with historical significance, Klara Espersen imagines a monument in Otter Creek made of memorial items found in the archive. She writes: “I have built my monument with images of several memorial items from the archive at the Henry Sheldon Museum: pictures of gravestones, the Middlebury West Cemetery lot plan, a funerary cloth, mourning drawings, frames from souvenir photographs. These items have strong symbolic meaning and contain significant sentimental value to those who knew and loved the deceased. Combined in a single monument, these things transcend their individual significance to form a memento for all the lives lived in Middlebury. “Postcards of local landmarks (Battell Bridge, Middlebury Main Street and Otter Creek) have been used to compose a recognizable but simultaneously slightly surreal version of Middlebury. Both bridge and river serve as symbols for passageways from life to death. Otter Creek represents the rivers of the underworld in Greek mythology. The memorial monu - ment is placed centrally in its waters, with silhouettes in wooden boats gathered around. The boats too are a reference to Greek mythology, where the deceased pass from one world to the other in a boat. “The people in the boats are taken from archival photographs of locals from the Middlebury community. Just as the individual memorial items combined in a single monument, the individual people cut out in a silhouette become a symbol for all lives lived in the community as well. It is not my aim to strip these persons of their individuality by reducing them to a human silhouette, but I am asking them respectfully to aid me in representing all.
“The silhouettes are filled with ornaments from the back of Henry Sheldon’s playing cards. Sheldon connected people. He was known for arranging card-playing activities, thus establishing and strengthening communities. His cards are therefore much more than just pieces of paper. They are personal relics and symbols of community. Finally, standing in the waters of Otter Creek with boats around, my monument is reminiscent of a lighthouse. A beacon leading the way, reminding us to learn from the past in order to navigate the future.” Finally, standing in the waters of Otter Creek with boats around, my monument is reminiscent of a light house. A beacon leading the way, reminding us to learn from the past in order to navigate the future.