Twisted Preservation Blog

  • The Decapitation Of Meaning

    The Decapitation Of Meaning

    “Upon the face of this old queen of the French cathedrals, beside each wrinkle, we find a scar.” Victor Hugo   For me, PRESERVATION is a strongly political act. It doesn’t have to be, but usually, it is a result of a political process, collective funding, and committee-derived narrative. What this means is that preservation Read more

  • One Night Stand: Leaving Crumbs Behind

    One Night Stand: Leaving Crumbs Behind

    Gadsby’s Tavern & Hotel Alexandria, Virginia March 16th, 2016 NOTE: This is part of a long-term series of “One Night Stand” ™ blog posts that will document overnight stays in actual historic house museums.  I want to understand these sites as more than merely decorative arts galleries – I am interested in them as places of Read more

  • One-Night Stand: Making Friends With The Shutters

    One-Night Stand: Making Friends With The Shutters

    Lincoln-Tallman House: The Rock County Historical Society Janesville, Wisconsin March 4, 2016 I asked to stay in the house – it was my idea. Like Abraham Lincoln, by the time I actually dropped my overnight bag in the Lincoln-Tallman House bedroom, I had just experienced an extended and unexpected travel experience. Lincoln was asked to Read more

  • The Power Of Fragments

    The Power Of Fragments

    Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. I grew up hearing the same story – From what I can remember, the little glass tube, attached to a thin gold chain, contained a very tiny piece of wood.  My relative always wore it around her neck.   She never tired of telling those around her that Read more

  • Reconstructing a Shadow

    Reconstructing a Shadow

    Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. But while we are confined to books, though the most select and classic, and read only particular written languages, which are themselves but dialects and provincial, we are in danger of forgetting the language which all things and events speak without metaphor, which alone is copious and Read more

  • Narratives of Disappearance

    Narratives of Disappearance

    Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. “The history of the work of the dead is a history of how they dwell among us – individually and communally. It is a history of how we imagine them to be, how they give meaning to our lives, how they structure public spaces, politics, and time. Read more