A gift
Contents, unknown
The ultimate invitation
The temptation to untangle delicate threads
I have never touched this thing. But I want to
I don’t know what’s inside. But I can imagine
Oliver Sacks said every act of memory is an act of imagination
When I imagine, I also remember
The daughter of a brain surgeon
Black pages, marked with milky white, arriving in briefcases after dark
Anatomy lessons at the lunch table
This delicate cloth container, like the one under my pillow
Worry dolls listening to the whispers of my too-busy brain
The catalogue record says “Spare brain clips”
Why are these ones buried in a store?
Not buried in someone’s brain.
We care for this precious parcel like we care for its prouder cousins
The first MRI machine
A body snatcher’s brain in a jar
Spare brain?
I left mine in the imaginary museum
Unknown object and Imaginary Museum interpretation : Jessica Bradford, Keeper of Collections Engagement, Science Museum London.
“It's not knowing embodied - not knowing what's inside, what it's for, why we acquired or kept it. It says everything about the unloved edges of museum collections, where we can find ourselves.”
“We talked about that sense of freedom we sometimes feel in museums, to forge our own path or unpick the loose threads holding the story together and replace it with our own memories. I like the idea that a museum can be a bit like the room of requirement.”