Leisha S. Muraki
Art History 309
Professor Bunn-Marcuse
2 May 2009
Personal Adornment
I wear a few pieces of personal adornment, two of which I wear on my wrist. While I will only discuss one of them in my presentation, I wanted to take the opportunity to write about both in this paper. The first piece of identity is my watch. When I look at my watch it reminds me of the journey I took to finally find it. The watch wasn’t given to me; I had to earn it. I don’t have any tattoos (the only one over 18 in my family not to have one), but for me, my watch holds the same symbolization. In watching the movie in class on Hawaiian tattoos, I felt a similar connection to the man who was getting a tattoo. The man thought he knew what he wanted, but in the end it was the tattoo artist that helped him discover the right design. Like me, it was a long road for him and not a quick decision and it is what makes the adornment more sentimental.
I wanted a watch for two reasons, first because I found it helped with my breathing. My heart can sometimes skips a beat or beats at an unusual pace due to too much adrenaline. It is called premature atrial contractions (PAC). Looking at clocks always calmed me down. The second reason was because I was jealous of my brother. My dad had given him a beautiful silver watch. I think watches are considered masculine heirlooms, which is why my dad probably didn’t think to give me one. After seeing my brother’s I knew I had to have one. I was sure I wanted a watch with a folding clasp, roman numerals and small face. I thought it would be easy to find, but it took me three years. My parents looked at Fossil, Rolex and Swatch watches, but no company made one with my specifications. I went to antique stores and flea markets, but still no luck. When I traveled I would always keep my eye out for the watch. I went to Boston, New York (twice), Portland, Honolulu, Orlando, Los Angeles, but could never find it. When I was twenty I went to Europe for that quintessential backpacking trip. I crept in old shops in hopes of finding my ghost watch and did the same in London, Amsterdam and Berlin. I finally reached Switzerland. I thought to myself that if I couldn’t find in the country of watches I would never find it. On my last day and with only hours until I had to leave, I walked into a small shop. An old woman was sting at the counter and I told her my story. She looked at my empty wrist and then looked up at me. She lightly gasped, I could tell something was churning in her head, and walked into the back of the store. When she came back out, she laid a box down and opened the lid. There, resting on dark blue felt, were five watches. She picked one up and gave it to me, telling me that this is the one I should get. She cut the band to fit my wrist and clasped it around. I had finally found my watch.
After coming back from Europe I found the importance of traveling, actually soul searching. I’ve always been running around stressed (which is why I have PAC) and traveling allowed me to focus only on me. When I was twenty-one I traveled to New York. Although I had been there twice before this trip for me was much different. My parent weren’t with me this time and I spent most of my vacation wandering through parts not seen in tourist books. One Saturday I found myself at a flea market and as I meandered around I noticed a man selling bracelets. He was metals worker and created the bracelets out of found objects. Like the Tlingit bracelets, this one was not a complete circle but it was a metal band that was bent to form a oval shape. It had an opening on the side that could be opened or closed depending on the wrist size. The ends were fastened together by a clasp. The trinkets, which served as the clasp, were made from old typewriter letters. The letters are what caught my eye initially. I am a graphic designer and I find beauty in letterforms and how they are constructed. Going back to tattoos, the letter for me is a symbol of my profession; just as the tattoo designs were a symbol of work as well. The bracelet for me was a wonderful way to express the quirkiness of designers but also the creativity of making something out of nothing.