Bedside Table Cartography

BSTpaigetext2 - Paige Fehn

Ink Staff member Paige Fehn illustrates bedside tables and allows you to consider their function.

A Note From the Artist:

When I moved into my apartment for the school year at the end of summer and unpacked all the items of my life (not a lot). Most of it was thrifted or given to me, including a pink alarm clock labeled “Dream Machine.” In my new home, I ceremoniously placed that, along with a lamp, on my blank bedside table. The dreams of the slick minimalist in me were materializing on a blank bedside table. This organized fantasy quickly died after a few days of my actual living habits.

After a week the clutter that had accumulated was evident: nail polish, my meds, tissues from a summer cold, earrings I would take out before letting my head hit the pillow– an assortment of items from my life that never left my bedside. Of course, there were some things that were displaced to other areas of my apartment after a while, but a few things were constants, they had nightly roles to fill at my leisure of having them on hand when I was in bed. I started considering what the implications were of having something at arm’s length when I was least willing to move from my spot.

For this project, I wanted to focus on what people have on their bedside tables. Bedside tables are different from desks or other methods of storage – they’re intimate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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