The function of ornaments: A cultural psychological exploration

Abstract

Ornaments are ubiquitous markers of everyday life and yet frequently ignored, belittled and even contested. Moreover, current definitions locate them in the realm of the aesthetic and gratuitous. This article aims to bring ornaments to the attention of cultural psychologists by outlining a typology of their manifold functions that integrates aesthetic and utilitarian, individual and social roles. Ornaments help us to identify and locate, tell or communicate, remind and organise our action, they guide our attention, express and individualise, can generate an experience, beautify as well as re-present. These functions are illustrated with examples from a study of Easter egg decoration practices in northern Romania. In the end, the ‘meta-function’ of emergence is discussed and consideration is given to the spatial and temporal contexts of ornaments. Future opportunities for theorising ornamentation as an embodied practice characterised by repetition and rhythm are suggested.

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