July 14, 2020: Ordinary Objects Workshop

During this workshop, we brought in ordinary objects from our home. These objects are ordinary because they are common and don’t really hold a special meaning to most people. These objects can easily be replaced by going to the supermarket and buying a new one. Special objects are usually irreplaceable because of the memories that they might hold or because of how expensive they might be. This isn’t to say that ordinary objects can’t be special objects as well. Someone might consider an ordinary object special because of the person from whom they received it, or just because it’s from ten years ago! What makes an object special has nothing to do with its material or even its purpose; it has more to do with the memories someone associates with that object. This is why many people are attached to certain objects.

My partner, Abida, brought a mug to the Ordinary Objects Workshop that she uses to contain all of her pens and pencils. She would categorize the mug in “Tea” in Seneca Village classification, even though she uses it for her education and work. This led me to think more about how multifaceted all of our ordinary objects are. We each utilize objects uniquely. My own Seneca Village object is classified as “Work,” but it could easily be classified in “Presentation of Self.” Even if it seems that the producers and manufacturers of objects have all of the power,  as users we do have autonomy. Just like the Seneca Village residents, we hold the power to repurpose and challenge conventions of how we should use things.