MJ Tyson
DOOMSDAYERS / INSIDERS
© MJ Tyson
A contemporary take on memento mori jewelry—reminders of the inevitability of death—MJ Tyson’s sculptural vessels and jewelry are composites of forsaken metal objects, which she melts and combines with the potential to hold new meaning for others. Old coins, watches, and silverware are among the items she chooses to freeze in flux as memorials for the people, living or deceased, who left them behind. Her work marks the fleeting nature of human life and the reincarnation of material things. Invested in how objects serve as containers of memory, she displays each of her jewelry pieces in a velvet-lined box that holds the impres- sion of the object and, therefore, its memory, even when the object is removed.
Among the compacted strata of pooling iron, gold, silver, and cop- per in her sculptures, one can glimpse the ornate edge of a plate or a number from a license plate, a hint of their past lives. While Tyson’s process may come across to some as a twisted fate, it is a practical alternative for objects that may be outdated or no longer hold value. Her reconstituted sculptures and jewelry are sentimental markers of a place or person’s story.
B. 1986, Morristown, NJ
Lives and works in Morristown, NJ
mjtyson.com
@mj_tyson
SM9498
MJ Tyson, Dust to Dust No. 23, 2023, Reconstituted jewelry and velvet box. Courtesy of the artist and Sienna Patti Gallery, photo by R & Company.
SM9499
MJ Tyson, 93 Crestwood Road, 2020, personal objects belonging to the deceased residents of 93 Crestwood Road. Courtesy of the artist and Sienna Patti Gallery, photo by R & Company.
SM9500
MJ Tyson, 35 Norman Avenue, 2020, personal objects belonging to the deceased residents of 35 Norman Avenue. Courtesy of the artist and Sienna Patti Gallery, photo by R & Company.