@abigailconant / abigailconant.com
Curation is the spine of identity. It is the act of selecting, organizing, and
caring for a collection, whether physical or digital. What we choose to
surround ourselves with shapes both who we are and who we strive to
become.
My thesis, Curate to the Core, explores how curation, authorship, and
archival work intersect to construct both personal and collective identities.
By researching and engaging in different collection practices, I investigate
how consciously grouping objects and media not only defines persona, but
also questions what persona means in the modern age. By experimenting in
both physical and digital mediums, I aim to uncover design’s role in intentional
preservation and define the principles of meaningful curation, and then
challenge them.
Through a speculative design lens, this research examines ordinary yet
unconventional ways people collect and archive. Toolkits of a False Reality
—physical collections of designed ephemera that blur truth and fiction—
invites audiences to ques- tion the authenticity of what we preserve and
present. These curated toolkits transform temporary objects like newspapers,
tickets, labels, and collectibles into tangible archives, highlighting the tension
between ephemerality and permanence, over-saturation and meaning.
Drawing from my background as an artist, designer, woman in identity crisis,
and purveyor of media culture, this work examines how curated narratives
can manipulate perception and redefine authorship. By presenting archives as
selected realities rather than objective records, I challenge traditional notions
of preservation and storytelling and propose the question: In an age of
impermanence and infinite storage, what is worth saving, and who gets
to decide?
Boston University College of Fine Arts
School of Visual Arts