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Mono No Aware explores how we collect and display both objects and ourselves in today’s more culturally intersecting world.
This work began with Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni (last slide). Identity is constructed through objects that, in her time, were easily understood—a coral necklace, a prayer book—clear markers of virtue, wealth, and status. Even the profile pose, mimicking Roman coins, was a cultural statement: a way to portray women as flattened, idealized figures.
My question was: how do we idealize identity today, now that we can curate our own collections?
