From Beyoncé’s boots to Trump’s ear bandage: 12 objects that defined 2024

Here’s a look back at the most significant objects that colored the culture this year.

Throughout 2024, it often felt hard to keep one’s bearings: Is the presidential campaign now a permanent state of being? Are Tesla robots and Apple headsets really going to be a thing? Is that a drone up there? There are many ways to grapple with these questions. But once again, I’ve set out to perform the annual ritual of assessing and unpacking the year gone by through the objects that captured our attention. Here, then, is the year in objects—the good, the unsettling, and the hard to explain.