In this thesis I am studying how we can make the past accessible in the present through thecombination of objects and stories. The aim is to look at how we are connected to the past andinterwoven with the stories and the objects around us. My interest lies in how and why theseprocesses are important to us and to art pedagogy. In the study I explore the method of objectelicitation to see how it can be useful in art education.Through an ethnography-inspired approach I conducted four interviews, two in Sweden andtwo in South Africa. The narratives that were unfolded from objects in the interviews wereanalyzed with the theoretical concepts relationship and life story from theory on materialculture and narrative theory. I have also used the concept trace from Paul Ricoeur’s writingon narrative time.Using an object of the participant’s choosing as a point of departure, triggered long focusedconversations about the past in relation to personal history and present life. Variousexpressions emerged where the objects in this study can be interpreted as active agentsshaping the people around them, holding knowledge and bridging time. When actualizing theobjects through storytelling relationships to people and places were revealed, giving theabstract perishable past form and meaning in the present. Powerful emotions involved in theseprocesses were expressed in the interviews.This study has a double perspective with both an academic and artistic research process. Theresult of the study is presented in this thesis as well as in an artwork consisting of three shortfilms that were exhibited on Konstfack’s graduation show in 2013.To carry out the field study at the Human Rights Media Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, Ireceived an MFS-stipend.