In 2018, I moved to Montréal and began again. Three garage sales, gifts to the willing (and unwilling), and the occupation a hidden corner of my parents’ basement and a lifetime of household and studio items were gone.
What came with me was pared down to a partial truck of books and sequins. I arrived at my furnished 3 1/2 with three suitcases and two cats.
When the truck arrived, I had a month in the city and at school under my belt. I began working with curious choices that had survived the purge and were put in a box during my blurry panic. Golden stilettos were laughable, as was the collection of used dryer sheets. The sequinned fabric was bought at a Turkish market in Berlin, the snakeskin shoes came from London. The Hunters, a gift from a friend, were too small and the vintage feathers came from a great-aunt who made hats. And so I flipped from teacher to student and tried to figure out what I had done.
Photography: Eleana Excoffler