I have discovered this series of work called " Hoarding Project" by Anne White and its incredibly fitting to my work . Not only is the themes of her images of possession and collecting but she talks about keeping memory's alive and also the images come with a personal story. The images wouldn't have as much impact on not hearing the story behind them in my opinion . I have included the story to belonging to the images below which I found on Anne Whites website.
Hoarding project
Hoarding project
This project is dedicated to Zora, our neighbour who died last year. I have kept and photographed her belongings as a lasting memory of her and have endeavoured to share my experience of knowing someone who was a hoarder, recording the items that she collected and treasured throughout her life.
My Mum and I first met Zora when she appeared on our doorstep in 2008. Until then we just knew her as the neighbour who made a fuss of our cats. She turned up in the evening after finishing work at Woolworths explaining her locks had been changed and she had nowhere else to go. My Mum said she could stay with us and she lived with us for the next two weeks. The housing association that owned her flat finally allowed her back after the rent arrears had been paid (by my Mum and friends) with the proviso that she had to ‘clear it out’. Knowing the housing association had been into the flat, Zora had the keys in her hand but was seemingly reluctant to go back.
We accompanied her home and could barely open the door. Zora was distraught that everything had been moved, although to us it hardly looked as though there was any order to the mess that confronted us. We spent the next few hours helping her make a pathway to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It was hard to imagine how she could have used the bed as it was broken and fully covered with Zora’s belongings.
Over the next few weeks we helped reinstall her washing machine, reconnect the hot water, find a new cooker and bed which both needed replacing. Zora was happy with these changes, but when it came to clearing out some of her personal items this turned out to be much more traumatic. We realised over the weeks and months that we were privileged to be allowed into her flat; she was a very private person and her possessions meant the world to her. Many came from her childhood home and had not been unpacked since. Others were collected from charity shops, with many still in the bags they came in. Her favourite collections ranged from the everyday to the highly unusual: crime novels, jewellery, Lucozade bottles, Roses tins, soap, the labels from cat food and even locks of her own hair.
We began helping her reduce the number of amassed items in her house; she knew if she didn't she would lose the flat. Some days she could cope with it, whilst at times it was just too painful to part with her possessions. She hated opening the post and as a result she had several outstanding court cases for unpaid bills and had lived without hot water for years.
These photos are a memory of a lifetime of objects that Zora collected and loved. They are a record of her hoarding and a lasting memory of a lady that we knew, although a lot of her life remains a mystery. I hope these photos show the beauty of her collections as well as the negative effects hoarding can have.
In 2013 hoarding was for the first time acknowledged as a mental disorder in its own right. It is estimated that approximately 1.2 million people in the UK are affected by hoarding. Reference: www.helpforhoarders.co.uk
My Mum and I first met Zora when she appeared on our doorstep in 2008. Until then we just knew her as the neighbour who made a fuss of our cats. She turned up in the evening after finishing work at Woolworths explaining her locks had been changed and she had nowhere else to go. My Mum said she could stay with us and she lived with us for the next two weeks. The housing association that owned her flat finally allowed her back after the rent arrears had been paid (by my Mum and friends) with the proviso that she had to ‘clear it out’. Knowing the housing association had been into the flat, Zora had the keys in her hand but was seemingly reluctant to go back.
We accompanied her home and could barely open the door. Zora was distraught that everything had been moved, although to us it hardly looked as though there was any order to the mess that confronted us. We spent the next few hours helping her make a pathway to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It was hard to imagine how she could have used the bed as it was broken and fully covered with Zora’s belongings.
Over the next few weeks we helped reinstall her washing machine, reconnect the hot water, find a new cooker and bed which both needed replacing. Zora was happy with these changes, but when it came to clearing out some of her personal items this turned out to be much more traumatic. We realised over the weeks and months that we were privileged to be allowed into her flat; she was a very private person and her possessions meant the world to her. Many came from her childhood home and had not been unpacked since. Others were collected from charity shops, with many still in the bags they came in. Her favourite collections ranged from the everyday to the highly unusual: crime novels, jewellery, Lucozade bottles, Roses tins, soap, the labels from cat food and even locks of her own hair.
We began helping her reduce the number of amassed items in her house; she knew if she didn't she would lose the flat. Some days she could cope with it, whilst at times it was just too painful to part with her possessions. She hated opening the post and as a result she had several outstanding court cases for unpaid bills and had lived without hot water for years.
These photos are a memory of a lifetime of objects that Zora collected and loved. They are a record of her hoarding and a lasting memory of a lady that we knew, although a lot of her life remains a mystery. I hope these photos show the beauty of her collections as well as the negative effects hoarding can have.
In 2013 hoarding was for the first time acknowledged as a mental disorder in its own right. It is estimated that approximately 1.2 million people in the UK are affected by hoarding. Reference: www.helpforhoarders.co.uk
Experiments in the studio
Taking inspiration from Anne whites Birds eye view of her collections I have decided to do some experiments in the university studio. Generally I prefer to take images on location rather than a studio but I thought id give it ago, you never know . As I have already stated this was just an experiment so instead of lugging my precious memory box all the way from Morecambe to Salford I had the idea to experiment with possessions in my handbag and the contents of other peoples bags. I thought that if the experiment were to go well I could bring in my memory box and photograph the entire of its content in this style as I pictured it being a huge detailed ,interesting print but I ran into some complications. Firstly studio lighting has never been area of expertise so it would complicate my module to have to learn how to perfect it ( that isn't the reason I didn't go through with the idea but was an adding factor . On setting up in the studio, I realised that the white backdrop ,isn't quite as clinically white as I hoped and even after a good scrub was vaguely stained in a number of places. This wasn't a problem for my small collection of handbag items but it would be a problem for my memory box as it would be on a much bigger scale . Here is experiment one .
After realising that the attached backdrop wouldn't be an ideal fit for my shoot I started enquiring and looking around for other large white things I could use as a backdrop. cloth was pensioned but it would be almost near impossible to lay a white cloth out perfectly without a, getting it dirty and be having creases. White paper/ Card was also mentioned but I couldn't get one single piece big enough to fit all of my objects on and joining two together would be visible. I could attempt photo-shopping the joint paper lines away but I would rather think of a solution more effective whilst shooting . I then decided to experiment photographing the objects individually on a product table and composing them together in Anne white style in post production . This means I am able to use a fake background which will indefinably be crystal white I just have to watch out the objects keep in scale compared to other objects ( I wouldn't want the 2p piece to appear bigger than the purse. Also photographing the products individually on a product table gives me more control of lighting, I set my camera up on a fixed tripod directly above the table , fixed the camera setting after the first object it was just a case of pressing the button and changing the object over . below is a random selection of objects photographed for experiment 2 .
Photoshop composite
So after Photographing my objects individually I created a blank canvas on Photoshop
and cut the objects out and placed them on to make the composite below. Even though possibly more polished off and neater I don't like It as much as experiment one I did above with a bit of a dirty back drop . Photographing solely objects after this practice is something that doesn't interest me , I feel like there is a lack of human presents and the objects don't come across personal enough . I would like to start looking at the person behind the memory box , not just the possessions . I will not be carrying on my work in a studio environment unless I start to do portraits because I don't feel it fits with my preferred style of photography .I need there to be more life in my images.
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