Ever since I was a child,I´ve been fascinated and inspired by people living in the past.Their life-stories, living conditions and their crafts.Now when I´m an adult, I collect antiques with a history. A few years ago I got two plastic bags of "junk" from a friend, which in turn was given them by her brother who works at an auction-house in Stockholm. They were to sell an antique chest of drawers, and emptied It´s contents in a few bags. His first thought was to throw the junk in the bin, but changed his mind.When I got "the junk", I spent a whole night sorting it, and gradually began to realize that "the junk" was in fact something rather amazing.In front of my eyes,the outlines of a person began to appear. A few pieces of paper fell out,and I got goosebumps. The first paper to appear was Marina Geijer´s wedding program from 1856,Next was her daughters school prom ticket from 1879, where the cavaliers had signed up for various dances. Then I saw a small silver casket,containing a lock of hair and a tiny tooth wrapped in an almost unreadable note.These treasures are on the photo in the frame.
In the bags were also exquisite embroidery, bobbin lace, doll clothing, haberdashery in ivory and silver, embroidered blouses and an armlet with the name Carl embroided in blue silk. I started searching on internet, and Marina Geijer´s life story unfolded before me.
Journal (inside the envelope with the title):
Marina Geijer was an artistic and talented woman in the early 1800s.She died young, only 28 years old, giving birth to her third child, her daughter Marina Alida, who 16 years later went to the school-prom.
During her short life she created gorgeous silk embroidery, made intricate bobbin lace and sewed the most exquisite textiles.She also composed sonnets and made beautiful watercolor paintings. She and her fellow sisters of the affluent classes of society were expected to be submissive, gentle and delicate little creatures whose duty was to please, give birth to heirs and constantly walk in the shadows of their men.At that time, women in Sweden were legally incompetent and was considered to have shrunken brains.Fragile and infantile beings without much intellectual capacity. Tightly laced up in their corsets, they lived their lives quietly in the background,sadly overlooked by their contemporaries. When I think of them, I see the image of clipped songbirds before me, trapped in their golden cages,like beautiful home-decor items that amuses and pleases, but never get to try their wings. Their history is often sadly forgotten, because nobody considered it worth preserving. Their handicrafts has been contemptuously called "women´s wasted toil",and their dreams, desires and thoughts about life are shrouded in dim history.
I feel very honored to be the keeper of Marinas legacy.
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