Transfer of Ownership
Giving a garment to someone else is sometimes a straightforward and
spontaneous act. At other times a transfer of ownership is more
circuitous. Periods of overlapping ownership often intensify resource
use and stud a garment’s story with memories.
Noreen
"This blazer is my best friend’s, her grandmother Noreen’s blazer.... My friend loves it but it doesn’t suit her style and she wants it to live on, so she thought of me and she passed it down to me so I am sort of keeping it on behalf of her family as an heirloom. So it’s very important for me to take super good care of it. And I only wear it, if I am feeling very fancy.
I never met Noreen. No. I don’t have connection to specifically with her. But I do with my friend and I feel like I am wearing it for her in a way. I feel… a responsibility. Its borrowed. It’s lent. It’s not mine. Yet everything [else] that I own, I don’t feel connected to any of it… they don’t... um... they don’t seem to have… weight."
Vancouver - January 2013
Photograph by
Jeremy Calhoun
