ARTWORK + > Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not
Vintage boom box, shells, adhesive, cassette tape, and audio
12 x 20 x 8 in.
2020
Forget Me Not
Vintage boom box, shells, adhesive, cassette tape, and audio
12 x 20 x 8 in.
2020
Forget Me Not
Vintage boom box, shells, adhesive, cassette tape, and audio
12 x 20 x 8 in.
2020
Forget Me Not
Vintage boom box, shells, adhesive, cassette tape, and audio
12 x 20 x 8 in.
2020
Forget Me Not
12 x 20 x 8 in.
2020

Forget Me Not, 2020
Vintage boom box, sustainably-sourced shells, adhesive, cassette tape, and looped audio

In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “Sailors’ Valentines”—elaborate mosaics made with colorful seashells—were popular gifts given by those returning from long oceanic voyages. They often contained messages such as "Think of Me, When Far Away" and "Forget Me Not."

Here, Kendler has covered a vintage boombox in shells as a personal love letter to the sea. This work confronts the increasing acidification of the ocean, which is linked to the burning of fossil fuels and climate change.

As the ocean takes up carbon dioxide and acidifies, marine organisms that rely on calcium carbonate for support and protection (like mollusks, crustaceans, and coral) face extinction. The boom box plays a vintage tape labeled as "soothing ocean sounds" which has been recorded over by the artist with "the sound of ocean acidification"—in this case, made by the contact mic-ing one of the artist’s baby teeth as it dissolves in acid.

Exhibited at:
Jenny Kendler: The Long Goodbye : MSU Broad Museum : Lansing, MI : Jan. 15 – Jun. 27, 2021