“Recollection: Storytelling through Mementos” On Display at St. Luke Health Services

Visitors entering St. Luke Health Services this month can view a display that portrays the stories, photos and objects of residents at St. Luke and other area facilities, in an interactive, visually striking exhibition.

“Recollection: Storytelling through Mementos”, is a project developed by faculty and students of SUNY Oswego that connects generations, using objects to share their individual histories and to share conversations about time, place, experience and meaning. Students gathered stories, photos and objects from residents and transformed them into an interactive, movable experience that is a must-see.

Pictured completing assembly of the “Recollection” display at St. Luke are (left to right) SUNY Oswego Project Co-Chairs Michael Flanagan, Director of Tyler Art Gallery; Rebecca Mushtare, Associate Professor of Art; with Mercedes Buhner, a graduate student in the Masters of Arts in Teaching program.

Viewers will find two-dimensional visual art, including shelves with mementos, gathered last summer by SUNY Oswego students and transformed into the interactive display. The display contains story-and-photo boxes that rotate, along with a rack of hanging posters that visitors can view and read fictional stories created by residents. Included is a hardcover exhibition catalog and a station that lets viewers share new additions to the collection of memories on display.

The project is led by Co-Chairs Michael Flanagan, Director of Tyler Art Gallery and Rebecca Mushtare, Associate Professor of Art at SUNY Oswego. This display is the second part of an initiative launched by SUNY Oswego’s art department, which began with “Recollections: A Memory Awareness Project”.

“Recollection: Storytelling through Mementos” is made possible by grants from the Health Foundation of Western and Central New York, the Leon J. and Anne B. Goldberg Foundation and CNY Arts.