Kiki Gordon

American/Dutch

A return to the ghost, this body of work is an archive of projects that come together in their relation to the hauntology of remembrance, of past/present and childhood/adulthood. Our former selves echo, ghostly, towards our current selves when reminders of the bygone appear. These reminders may be material, sentimental, or sensational. Through a collection of collections, I explore my desires to make space into place as I invent the environment in which these books and objects live. The curiosities within include dolls, collectibles, childhood entertainment, children’s drawings as well as books and printed material. Outsider art has been a focus of mine throughout my studies, my fixation on impassioned adult toy collectors and fervently creative children has taught me a language of expression, uninfluenced, through which everything inspires. Taken by the subculture of cult-classic collectors, this display is a material assemblage of the adult’s experience of all that haunts from our youth.

The title of this body of work is “I feared my shadow but it was nice to see myself in fear”. It is one of the many poems written by children from Kenneth Koch's 1973 book "Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? Teaching Great Poetry to Children."

Kiki Gordon is the creator of Re:Birth, a recurring publication that publishes children’s drawings and writings. Issue #2 of summer 2022 is on the “Age of Fear”, adult recollections of childhood fears + the child’s experience of fear.

kikianngo@gmail.com

Instagram: @kikiagordon

rebirthpublication@gmail.com

Instagram: @rebirthpublication