Cutlery Tray Stories
Julia
This really is like family history. The spoons, knives and forks belonged to my great aunt Martha. One of the knives was nicked by a cousin in an Indian restaurant. Those plastic knives are from an Air Transat flight back from Canada. I like the High Tech Design.
Liz
Our cutlery is filthy, filthy. It doesn’t really belong to anyone in particular. I know that Jo bought those cheap spoons before she left. When I leave, I won’t take anything. I never take cutlery with me.
Sean
All of these pieces are one-offs. I have bought them at the Sunday Market, in charity shops, car boot sales. I never keep cutlery, but I love it. If a piece makes it into this set it has passed the test. When I really like something, I give it away again.
Tim
I have never really noticed my cutlery basket before. It is a lot of trouble to go through to weave one. I hope I don’t inflict any injuries on it because I just sling cutlery in.
Mark
This cutlery is a mixed set, this co-op has been around for over 10years, it started out as a squat and different people have brought different stuff, they come and go, cutlery comes and goes. I don’ t have cutlery, so this is convenient. A lot of the stuff looks old and interesting and makes me think of the people who have left it behind.
Julia Winckler is a photographer and senior lecturer at the University of Brighton. Cutlery Tray Stories is a playful series with cutlery owners reflecting on the stories of their knives, spoons and forks. It was exhibited as part of Collection Cabinets: an accessible archive at the Gardener Arts Centre, Brighton, 2002. Since then, Julia has exhibited widely, including at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, and the Austrian Cultural Forum, London. Julia’s interdisciplinary research continues to focus on archival traces and memory, as well as migration narratives. Julia is currently co-researcher on the SSHRC project Children of the City: from street to playground (2013-2017), which mobilizes a collection of archival photographs of urban street scenes taken in Toronto at the turn of the last century.