Everyday Objects: Working-class Waste from 1890s Seattle
Installation 2021-2022 Bellevue Arts Museum
photo: Emilie Smith
Three years ago, while working on a commission for the Washington State Convention Center, I learned they unearthed an 1890s dump of 800+ objects when excavating for the new building foundation. Thus began a long series of negotiations with archaeologists, developers, and curators to try to find meaningful homes for these artifacts that were deemed historically redundant.
On display for the Architecture and Urban Design Biennial at the Bellevue Arts Museum are the toys, teapots, bottles, dinner bones that once belonged to the stable workers, Chinese Laundry workers, and tenement residents that all lived and worked one city block in downtown Seattle.
read the Crosscut article about the installation: ArtSEA: What 1890s garbage says about today’s Seattle