Junk drawers as art
Photographer Paho Mann has an interesting photography project of people’s junk drawers and medicine cabinets. Since 2000, he has photographed a series of junk drawers and medicine cabinets in an attempt to capture peoples desire to collect. From the artist’s site:
I have photographed Junk Drawers and Medicine Cabinets on and off since 2000. My work explores the persistent mark of individuality in a culture that brands, packages, and relentlessly promotes conformity. Even among those who attempt to fit into society, there is an amazing wealth of information each individual reveals in near-privacy, spaces such as junk-drawers and medicine cabinets. The near-private nature of these spaces force the viewer to contend with the natural desire of humans to collect, categorize, and by doing so, manage to give clues about their personality and identity.
Paho Mann also has a web based work where he created a photographic taxonomy of all the objects in his apartment. The project is titled Sort and can be explored here.
(via Kottke)
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Posted by Matt on Oct 13, 2008 |
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5 comments posted
Posted by Another Deb - 10/13/2008
This is an artist after my own heart. I love the reflective nature of his work as it explores what we save, and how we organize it. Some of us just take six pictures of the computer mouse and display it on Flickr. HIS stuff hangs in art galleries!
So, I looked at every junk drawer on his website as closely as I could. It amazes me not because they are all so different, I was struck by the similarity of so many things we all “know” belong in a junk drawer.
There were playing cards, batteries, scissors, tape candles and matches in most of them. Glue and maps in many, and flashlights, screws and nails in several.
Geez, Taller Half and I have about 5 drawers just with pens, pencils, markers and erasers. We have a drawer for checkbooks. I keep a bin just for tape, one for batteries and another just for glue. There is a drawer for ViewMasters,dice and cards.
We have a cabinet full of paper, another full of folders and empty files. One cabinet holds a tub of extension cords and computer cables. Of course another is for the orphaned transformers from long lost electronics. One cabinet holds CD’s from workshops and textbook companies. There are many bins with slides, negatives and photograph prints.
A wide closet holds four bookshelves full of books and the shelf above the hanger rail is wall-to-wall notebooks. The other 8 bookshelves are scattered in other parts of the house. A dresser next to be bed holds two drawers full of books.
It gets stranger. There is a drawer in the garage with nothing but seashells and starfish and a dresser drawer has rubber stamps and stamp pads. A box over the car has Mardi-Gras costumes. A shelf in the garage holds colored plates to be broken up as mosaic. I am beginning to feel like I live in the Charles and Ray Eames studio. Or maybe I just live in one BIG junk drawer!
Both cars and the motorcycle DO fit into the garage, the piles don’t topple and I can find pretty much everything I need. TH is saving two file cabinets full of files from his previous career and is finishing his Master’s this winter. When he does finish, we will have that conversation about the dresser full of heavy woolen hiking socks and the idea that when one car eventually needs to be replaced, we should get a dump truck!
Posted by Ton Ebben - 10/13/2008
Based on the same sort of reasoning I have started photographing people’s toilets!
Paho Mann explains it better than I do!
Finally I will be able to tell my friends why I photograph their toilets… which has been a little difficult to do up to now LOL!!!!
Posted by Fit Bottomed Girls - 10/14/2008
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?
But no, this is really interesting and creative. I love artists.
Posted by Someone - 10/16/2008
Hey! His partner works (or worked?) at Talas– one of the best places for buying bookbinding supplies! (The “Sort” page included a photo of her Talas business card– that kind of jumped out at me
)
Posted by Jen - 10/26/2008
Wow, their “never” and “rarely” used stuff nearly doubles the amount of items used “often” “very often” and “occasionally” combined. I wonder if they threw any of those things away after doing this project.
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