Ellis Island

 

«Our connection to things. The stories they remind us of, and the past places and times they make us land in. Time travel. Connection. Shared stories. I have several of these strange time capsules hidden around the house. (...) Things that make anywhere feel like somewhere.

Nina Simone's chewing gum spent two years in that briefcase and travelled everywhere with me when I toured. Amazingly it was never subject to security checks and sniffer dogs. When I moved to a new house in 2001 I realised it was way too precious to carry around in a briefcase. I was sure I would lose it. After September 11th I was subject to more frequent bomb checks at airport security and figured the gum would be collateral damage. There was a time when a beard was political. There was no way that was going to happen.»