Spelman cups: Attitudes to the past

Technically there are five of you, but actually only four. Really you are three and one other. None of you are really broken, but all are damaged, bar one. Small, glazed, white, glossy. Three old, one new. Slip cast, tipped out of a plaster mould, handles moulded too, joined later. Three of you are stained; use, time and storage showing on your bodies. The one newer, perfect, crisp, unstained, unchipped little story acquired yet. You sit together, deliberately spaced. A wider gap between first and third: where your missing comrade should hang. You tell a story as a group. First belongs to a 'Creator, those who start anew, do not repair what already exists': cup repurposed, plant pot now. Second, the gap; the missing, destroyed, discarded, binned, trashed, no longer wanted, thrown away, tossed aside. The 'destroyer wants to get rid of what's there, not rescue it'. Third, still used by a 'noninterferer, those who neither help nor hinder, simply allowing decay'. Dregs in the bottom. Potentially cared for, potentially just not bothered. Not broken enough to warrant change. Fourth, brand new, proudly branded but somehow less interesting. Unchipped, unstained, unused. 'A replacer has figured it's not possible to or worth it to repair your original'. Fifth, post it note stuck on. It reads 'chipped, might be useful'. Belonging to the bricoleur, purpose is sensed but not seen, there but not clear. You rest now, your place is logged, your properties acknowledged. As a group you tell a story. If you yourselves could speak what would you say I feel you ask questions, querying our identities – what is my relation to the past Is it described here What kind of Repairer (or not) am I You deliberate on our actions – what do I do How do I move forward from breakage You now hang in a row, in a public space, there to be looked at. You are white objects on a white wall. Potentially no one will notice you. (Spelman, 2002:5)