Museum of
Ordinary ThingsA little attention changes everything.
Green houseplant leaves photographed against a pale background.
The collectionExhibit No. 013

A living keepsake

Against all expectations.

A houseplant with a forgiving nature.

The story behind the object
The storyplayful

It arrived with a small card promising that caring for it would be easy. The card did not account for a north-facing window or my understanding of the phrase water occasionally.

We have had difficult months. We have also produced a new leaf, which I announced to several people who had not requested updates.

The museum honours this plant for persistence, diplomacy, and its continuing refusal to give up on its keeper.

A fictional story, written for this sample exhibit.

What ordinary thing would you keep?

Make an exhibit of your own

Fictional sample exhibit · Back to the collection

Photograph by Annie Spratt / Unsplash ↗

A closer look · The full photograph

Green houseplant leaves photographed against a pale background.

An ordinary thing, given extraordinary attention.

The Museum of Ordinary Things

Nothing ordinary
about what we keep.

A ticket. A chipped cup. A watch that no longer works. Some objects matter for reasons no label can quite explain. This is a place to try.

This early exhibit explores how a photograph and a few words can give an everyday thing extraordinary attention.

Create an exhibit with your own photograph and words. Save it privately, then choose when to publish it. The two stories in our sample exhibit are fictional.