Objects Carrying Unfinished Stories

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Keys, photographs, a shirt, and a ring turn everyday objects into records of what people have lost, concealed, and hoped to repair.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Key From the Sea A Key From the Sea from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". An Object Outlasts Its Owner The Seafloor Trove Marcellus finds a key among remnants of a human life on the bottom of the sea.

A Key From the Sea from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". An Object Outlasts Its Owner The Seafloor Trove Marcellus finds a key among remnants of a human life on the bottom of the sea.

An Object Outlasts Its Owner The Seafloor Trove Marcellus finds a key among remnants of a human life on the bottom of the sea. Memory Without Context The key preserves a connection to someone lost, even before Marcellus knows who that person was.

A Photograph and a Ring A Photograph and a Ring from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". Evidence Misread An Image of Daphne and Simon Cameron treats a photograph and class ring as proof that Simon Brinks fathered him.

A Photograph and a Ring from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". Evidence Misread An Image of Daphne and Simon Cameron treats a photograph and class ring as proof that Simon Brinks fathered him.

Evidence Misread An Image of Daphne and Simon Cameron treats a photograph and class ring as proof that Simon Brinks fathered him. Objects Invite Stories Their physical presence gives Cameron hope, but the meaning he assigns to them proves incomplete.

Ethan’s Concert Shirt Ethan’s Concert Shirt from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". A Keepsake Damaged An Accidental Cleaning Tova uses Ethan’s rare Grateful Dead shirt as a rag without realizing what it is.

Ethan’s Concert Shirt from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". A Keepsake Damaged An Accidental Cleaning Tova uses Ethan’s rare Grateful Dead shirt as a rag without realizing what it is.

A Keepsake Damaged An Accidental Cleaning Tova uses Ethan’s rare Grateful Dead shirt as a rag without realizing what it is. Value Beyond Appearance The mistake reveals that an ordinary-looking garment carries an entire history of music and memory for Ethan.

A Replacement Offered A Replacement Offered from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". Repair Through Effort A Costly Search Tova finds the same concert shirt online and travels to Tukwila to retrieve it.

A Replacement Offered from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". Repair Through Effort A Costly Search Tova finds the same concert shirt online and travels to Tukwila to retrieve it.

Repair Through Effort A Costly Search Tova finds the same concert shirt online and travels to Tukwila to retrieve it. Care Made Material Her willingness to spend time and money shows that she has listened to Ethan more closely than either expected.

Erik’s Ring Returned Erik’s Ring Returned from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". An Object Finally Understood EELS Decoded The ring’s engraving identifies Erik’s name and proves that the object belonged to him.

Erik’s Ring Returned from "Remarkably Bright Creatures". An Object Finally Understood EELS Decoded The ring’s engraving identifies Erik’s name and proves that the object belonged to him.

An Object Finally Understood EELS Decoded The ring’s engraving identifies Erik’s name and proves that the object belonged to him. An Old Story Reopened Marcellus’s intervention turns a lost object into the evidence that reconnects Tova to her grandson.

Before Marcellus’s capture

After Cameron opens Jeanne’s box

The evening Tova shares supper with Ethan

A few days after the supper

Tova’s final night at the aquarium