a possession obsession
Why?
to reflect on my attachment to, and accumulation of, material things by photographing them, thereby exploring the relationship I have with the objects that surround me, and the need to ‘sort’ it all before I die to deal with the guilt of having so much when so many have so little
Inspirations
Barbara Iweins , Sol Le Witt, Tacita Dean, Martin Parr, Don McCullin
Edmund de Waal & others
Process&VisualLanguage
theB&W‘excess’images,withpilesof objectsfillingthepage,aimto convey asenseof beingoverwhelmed
Theimagedepicting‘collections’ispresentedasanorganisedflatlaywith oneof thecollectionsactingasabackground.Aimingtoconveyasenseof appreciationandorganisation.
The ‘cataloging’imageispresentedasagridisolatingobjectsincolour (eachcoloursignifyingacategory)aimingtoconveythedelightIgetfrom individualobjectsaswellasthesatisfactionfromorderingof them.
Categorisingwasdesignedtoremindmeof theprovenanceof objects. finalimagedeliberatelysparsetoconveypeacefulacceptanceandreflection NBcaptiontext-‘schoolbell’-slightlywonky
x c e s s t h i n g s
DoI needallthese things?
Appreciating collections of things
useful and aesthetically pleasing souvenirs from travels sentimental reminders of the past presents from friends and family
Cataloguing things
Discarding and donating things
Reflection
The process of photographing & sorting ‘things’ helped me understand the reasons for my accumulation. It is nuanced and complex.
A combination of expression of identity, sentimentality, dealing with loss, magpie mentality and just the joy and quest of collecting.
Through the process of photography I’ve been able to accept who I am but also begin the sorting process and the guilt /shame ? it’s good to appreciate what I have, alongside thinking about people who have to leave their possessions or who lose them due to war, natural disasters.
So don’t look away - let’s do what we can
Kintsug i
Perhaps the most deeply hidden motive of the person who collects can be described this way : she(sic) takes up the struggle against dispersion. Right from the start, the collector is struck by the confusion , by the scatter, in which things in the world are found
Walter Benjamin The Arcades project ..........there can never be the definitive collection. For what is more inert than a finished collection.
Tacita Dean on collections
Judith Mullineux 2025