After much indecision between various project ideas, I have finally cemented my project for this year: documenting the attic in my home and the vast contents within.
This came about when I had the initial idea to create abstract representations through plastic bags, inspired by Ignasi Casas' and Francois Delfosse's work.
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The Plastic Bag series
Ignasi Casas
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Antarctica in a Bag
François Delfosse
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This was further spurred on by the works of photographers whose project dealt with still life and discarded objects. For example- Andrea Tese's
Inheritance explores a personal representation of Tese mourning the loss of her grandfather, showcasing ideas of legacy, identity, and impermanence, and what we leave behind defines who we are. Rearranging the items into various compositions asserts Tese's presence as an artist, chronicling a life expressed through simple objects, ranging from items specific to her, such as a collection of the artist as a child, to pedestrian items such as shoes.
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| "Pictures of Me" from Inheritance |
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| "Shoes" from Inheritance |
The other artist that I was inspired by was Leopoldo Plentz's series Useless Things, in which he gathered rubbish on the streets without thinking, and used a scanner to make large-scale scanner art, transforming the way we look at litter. It examines the relationship between human beings, consumption, and waste, forcing the viewer to rethink what is considered useless, essential, beautiful, and ordinary.
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Useless Things
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seenThings by Dan Ferro also caught my attention, in particular the texture of the materials in the images, as well as the form of communication (since the project is about a bulletin board filled with posts left by students at the University of Chicago). The collection shows the build-up of announcements over time, the various methods people have used to apply them to the bulletin and its exposure to the elements; the projects themes are similar to Plentz's approach of highlighting the ordinary in ways we wouldn't have imagined initially and using our imagination to create something out of nothing (as seen in the images individual names). It also represents the relationships between humans, as we may be strangers to one another but we are linked nonetheless.
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| "blueDam" from seenThings |
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| "fourBars" from seenThings |
Whilst similar in theme to Tese's project, Corrie Witt's
Residue captures identity and impermanence, representing the futility of life quickly passing by (through the small details and close-up approach), that we don't think about or realise once its cleared away. This is synonymous to the end of life, but once we stop and look at these minute details, we can appreciate the little things in life.
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Residue
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Lastly, I found the work of John Ryan Brubaker's
Maps for Getting Lost intriguing, because it portrays exploratory walks through urban environments, an investigation of the process of travel without destination or orientation. Of interest were his images of the pavements- as its something you don't normally see photographed, despite its subject being different (it captures the chaotic activity of the modern city in Brussels). Nonetheless it links in with moments not normally captured or noticed by people, as previously mentioned in other artist's projects.
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| Maps for Getting Lost |
Even though I didn't have a clear idea what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to make something meaningful. After looking at the artist's images, something suddenly clicked, in which I made the link to go from using different objects often discarded to depict the items in the attic, a place where we keep useless and treasured objects out of sentimentality or to be cleared out when we have the time.
With this in mind, hopefully the end result will be something personal that explores the forgotten past existing in the attic, and the temporary nature that comes with all things in life. Only time will tell once I start creating work!
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