For some time now, I have been gathering buttons forgotten in boxes and drawers; buttons that were kept alive by their keepers’ hopes they might someday be used or (more often than not) re-used on other garments. In this work I collected hundreds of them from different provenances – a great ornamental festival of sorts – out of gratitude to the women who generously gave me these gifts for which they hoped I would find a future.

• buttons, cotton thread and multifilament fishing tackle
• 5,75 cm, linear measurement (installation with variable measurement)
• EXHIBITIONS: “O que a gente não tem coragem de jogar fora”, Galeria Inox, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Photos: Wilton Montenegro and Michelle Blatter