Inherent vice, also known as inherent fault, is the tendency in an object or material to deteriorate or self-destruct because of its intrinsic internal characteristics, including weak construction, poor quality or unstable materials, and incompatibility of different materials within an object.

–American Institute for Conservation (2021)

In being with these dresses, we have had to lean into a sort of love/hate relationship. Our experimentation with them was a collaboration guided by dialogue and process that constantly brought up dichotomies of (dis)containment and de/regeneration. These dresses quite literally crumbled at our touch, yet we were trying to both make them anew while simultaneously embracing this destruction. Dwelling in the liminality between the act of controlling these dresses versus allowing them to evolve as they wish challenged us to both accept the loss of what previously was and allow something new to take its place.

The Last Hurrah was a collaborative spectacle that served to bring each of the participants closer to these dresses, allowing each of us to develop our own personal memories with these garments and bring them to life in a new way. Throughout this experience, I was constantly brought back to my frustration with museums: the inability to experience the tangible by nature of traditional display techniques. Garments are meant to be worn and lived in, yet the space of the museum does not allow for this. Thus putting these tattered dresses on was an attempt to transgress these boundaries. This performance piece also challenged us to let go of the rules of conservation and our urge to keep clothing pristine. In tandem with the performance, I wanted to lean into the archival process through analog photography. Archiving the performance in this way allowed me to take snapshots of the process of becoming with the dresses without stepping too far away from the moment itself. In having to choose what to photograph and then narrow it down even further by deciding what to print, I resisted the urge of traditional archival and documentation methods by embracing the fact that the visitor does not have to know everything and that some of the memories made that day were meant to exist only between the dresses and those wearing them. Although destruction was rampant in my mind, I also felt the need to give these garments a second life. I wanted to take this as an opportunity to engage with craftwork because of the way in which garment construction has historically been undervalued and considered feminine craft as opposed to high art. I chose to regenerate these scraps from our performance by making paper.