The Weight of Aimless Things

Why do we insist on preserving the tools of our past, even when the hands that once wielded them have long since grown steady and still? We keep these artifacts in the corners of our lives like anchors, hoping they might tether us to a version of ourselves that knew nothing of consequence. There is a strange, quiet ache in looking at an object designed for mischief, now stripped of its purpose and left to gather the dust of indifference. We imagine that by holding onto these remnants, we are holding onto the freedom of a time when the world was small enough to be measured by the reach of a wooden frame and a bit of elastic. But time is a thief that does not return what it takes; it only leaves behind the hollow shells of our former desires. If the target is gone and the game has ended, what remains of the hunter?

Ryszard Wierzbicki has captured this feeling in his beautiful image titled Thai Slings. These objects sit in the frame as silent witnesses to the fleeting nature of our own childhoods. Does looking at them make you feel closer to who you once were, or further away?