It may not be entirely common to walk out of a museum or a history lecture wondering what will survive of us for posterity to examine. Such questions about the place of his generation on the map of history are Miaad’s perennial vexation and his inspiration for the Zipper Series. This installation is comprised of a museum display case that houses a collection of zippers crafted from silver and presented as anthropological artifacts at different levels of preservation.

Miaad chose the zipper for this installation because of its utility in every aspect of contemporary life, as well as its humble status as a common and unremarkable accessory. In some instances, the objects on display appear to represent the contemporary layperson, as their almost skin-like surfaces carry marks that read like scars and tattooed-on desires and emotions. Each zipper is frozen in an awkward half-open position, signifying our fear of absurdity and struggle to find a sense of wholeness and purpose in the intimidating flux of our era. Miaad uses fine silver as his sculpting medium to imbue the object— and the anxieties and feelings that it represents— with weight and value.

By defamiliarizing these common objects and viewing them with an anthropological lens, Miaad seeks to construct a “living history” that celebrates the ingenuity and elegance of the transient, the mundane, and the unsung!