Every Thing I Own
Day 2 of a 30 Day Writing Challenge: 750 words before breakfast.
Warning: this is a raw, unedited transcript.
The idea of slimming down my possessions is appealing, but I’ve always gone the opposite way… slowly accumulating more things. Many of these are now nestled down in the basement of my house: boxes of CDs and videos, a suitcase of miscellaneous objects, shoeboxes of old photos.
Letting go is hard.
So I’ve been thinking about a concept for a piece of art.
Imagine a photography catalogue of everything that a man owns. Each object is photographed on a white background. You can browse the catalogue alphabetically, or by category, or by size. And maybe there’s some kind of live feed/website where you can watch a replay of the cataloguing process itself.
A kind of portrait, but painted with objects not brushstrokes.
I have no idea how many objects I own. Isn’t that weird, and a bit scary?
Our ancestors would have sweated and perhaps bled to acquire their tools and clothing. And now we walk to the supermarket and stroll through aisles and aisles of things from around the world, neatly packaged and ready to take home.
Looking at photographs of my possessions would tell you almost everything about me: which country I live in, my rough age, area of interest, and what I do for a living. Some things would be hard to work than they used to be. You wouldn’t see any of the music I’ve acquired in the last 10 years, because it only exists in digital form. And you wouldn’t see any photographs from the last 10 years either.
Anyway. Here’s the rest of my plan.
Once the shoot was done, I’d sort through everything and eliminate as much as possible using the KonMari method.
For each possession I’d ask myself “Does this spark joy?” and if not, I’d get rid of it.
I’ve already tested her method — which include very precise instructions on folding — to transform a drawer of clothes. I’m convinced that it’s worth doing…
… and yet, notice how I’m using this idea to stall myself from doing the tidying up / slimming down part.
I’ve told myself that I can only apply the KonMari method after I’ve done the hard work of cataloguing everything. Which conveniently, means I might never get round to it. Hmmm…
Writing thing downs makes me more likely to remember them.
Remembering things makes me more likely to take action on them.
Sidenote: What ideas have you written down recently? What actions have you taken to bring them to life?
I want to be less of dreamer, and more of do-er.
So…
How would I make this idea happen?
- Make a rough inventory of my possessions. (Maybe I don’t need to take photographs, and the inventory alone would be interesting enough?)
- Decide on a style and format for the photographs. (I know that I want them to be neutral in style. But I’m also wary of how long it would take to carefully and consistently compose thousands of photographs. How should things like clothing be “arranged”? If I had multiples of the same object, would they be photographed together or separately? More thinking required here.)
- Use the rough inventory to estimate how long the photographing and cataloguing will take.
- To turn my bedroom into a photography studio (easier than carting everything to a proper studio?) I would need:
- —Lights
- —A tripod
- —Maybe something to block out the windows
- —(Already have several camera/lens options)
- I’d probably hire a photography assistant to help with the shoot
- And maybe someone (who can type really fast) to help with the cataloguing as we shoot, rather than do it afterwards.
What are my next actions?
- Make a rough inventory of everything I own
- Research still-life photography styles and create a moodboard
- Ask a photographer for advice on equipment/lighting
- Take some tests shots
Appendix: What does the internet think of this idea?
- “Everything I Own” is a song by the soft rock outfit Bread. (I’ll freely admit that I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Bread… somehow I acquired a tape of their greatest hits when I was a kid.)
- A minimalist made a list of everything he owns and it’s 288 items long.
- Some guy in Germany cut all his possessions in half to spite his girlfriend. (Is this art? It looks like art to me)
- The photographer Peter Menzel captured families with “most” of their possessions arranged outside their house. Although I like the idea, I’m not very keen on his execution of it.
- Huang Qingjun took photos of families with their possessions in China, which I prefer stylistically.
