BRATTLEBORO \u2014 Two long-handled shovels twist together like strands of DNA. Drawer pulls take the form of a barber\u2019s scissors and combs. In the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) exhibition \u201cThe Purpose of Your Trip,\u201d artist Elliott Katz of Burlington transforms familiar tools and heirlooms into sculptural reflections on migration, family history, and the ways personal objects carry memory across generations. Katz\u2019s first solo museum show is on view at BMAC through March 6. Curated by DJ Hellerman, the exhibition is supported in part by BMAC\u2019s Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Exhibition Endowment Fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe objects in \u2018The Purpose of Your Trip\u2019 reflect the complexity of Katz\u2019s grandparents\u2019 lives, shaped by war, displacement, and a deep commitment to human dignity,” Hellerman says in a news release. “At the same time, they speak to the life Katz is actively building today \u2014 one rooted in care, creativity, and the ongoing pursuit of a world that values big, open, and independent thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katz\u2019s artistic practice bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary technology, drawing on his Japanese American family\u2019s history to create charged, human-scaled sculptures from everyday materials, according to the release. The exhibition traces his family\u2019s journey across North America \u2014 from immigration in the 1920s, to incarceration during World War II, to the building of a life in Vermont \u2014 while reflecting on the ongoing process of self-invention.<\/p>\n
Installed in the former ticket office of BMAC\u2019s historic Union Station building, \u201cThe Purpose of Your Trip\u201d explores themes of transit, borders, and passage. The site-specific installation allows the 1915 building\u2019s windows and shifting light to evoke movement and impermanence. It includes a large-scale reproduction of a 1942 photograph of Katz\u2019s ancestors, taken by renowned photojournalist Dorothea Lange, as part of her effort to document Japanese American incarceration camps for the War Relocation Authority.<\/p>\n
Throughout the exhibition, Katz reimagines tools and heirlooms as sculptural forms. A replica of the suitcase carried by his great-grandfather into the Manzanar incarceration camp is rendered in alternating bands of black walnut, sapele, and ash, transforming its original fabric pattern into precious material. Bronze drawer pulls molded from his grandparents\u2019 barber tools temporarily replace the gallery\u2019s existing hardware, subtly weaving family history into the physical fabric of the space.<\/p>\n
Other works reflect Katz\u2019s present-day experience of cross-border family life. The title of the exhibition references the question Katz routinely answers while crossing the U.S.\u2013Canada border to visit his partner and son in Montreal. Sculptural replicas of a passport and a soccer ball, repaired using the Japanese technique of kintsugi, highlight themes of separation, connection, and reparation.<\/p>\n
Together, the works in \u201cThe Purpose of Your Trip\u201d weave past and present into a meditation on displacement, resilience, and the quiet conviction required to build a meaningful life.<\/p>\n
BMAC is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is \u201cpay as you wish.\u201d The museum is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Brattleboro Subaru, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and Sam\u2019s Outdoor Outfitters.<\/p>\n