The Lost Mitten Project

The Lost MItten Project: this project is based on the winter phenomenon of losing a mitten and is unique to northern climate dwellers. The project examines loss on a small scale. When having lost a favorite mitten, the stages of grief will likely transpire: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. It is inevitable that losing a mitten with cause a change in our behavior: buy a new pair, resort to a back-up pair, wear only 1 mitten or go without and have cold hands.

I have worked on the Lost Mitten Project 2002-2007. It is based on the situation in which a mitten is dropped inadvertently. There are people who will pick up a lost mitten and prop it up on a mail box, stick in the fence or placed in a visible location. These people are the good samaritans of loss. It is their hope that the person who has lost the mitten will back track their steps and retrieve the mitten. In 2002, when I started this project, I took that idea one step farther and began collecting every mitten I saw in my travels. I noted the day and cross streets of my finds, in the hopes that this information would help track down the person who lost the mitten. In the first winter, I collected over 300 lost mittens and gloves.

The project evolved over the years to encompass many collaborations with the community. In the second winter 2003/2004, I amassed large quantities of lost mittens and gloves from the transit systems lost and found offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. In 2004/2005, I created several site specific installations and partnered with the crafting community for sewing a series of four Lost Mitten sleeping bags. I have created carry packs for these sleeping bags and ‘tested’ them on camping trips in 2005 and 2006. The test hypothesis was “Can Loss Keep Me Warm” and data results indicate that indeed it does. in 2002, I created at http://www.lostmittenproject.com to encompass the many activities of the Lost Mitten Project.

I no longer collect mittens, but I will pick up one up and put on the fence, or mailbox, or tree. Its nice to see that many other people do the same thing.
Karina Bergmans
http://www.KaleidocopeArt.com

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