1

Shoot 5: Personal Possessions

I first looked at Miyako Ishiuchi’s images when I was focussing my project on the more personal side of death and loss. Although my project has changed, her images are still extremely relevant to the idea of ‘absence of body’ and I especially love her series ‘Mother’ and the way it encapsulates not only loss but her mother’s personality and life through looking at her clothing and belongings. The images are so soft and personal with the use of colour and black and white giving the series a very homely feel. These images in some way reminded me of my parents’ house and the belongings they have which is why I decided I wanted to photograph their possessions. Although not about loss, this shoot aims to capture individual lives through possessions.

After I knew I wanted to do object photography I started to look at a few other photographers who had series in a similar style to Ishiuchi’s. My favourite of the above being Norm Diamond’s series of items left sold in estate sales. Although I find it extremely sad that people wouldn’t care enough to save their loved ones possessions, I really liked the outsider perspective into these peoples lost lives. That we can almost envision who these people were through their possessions, and that’s what I wanted to capture with this shoot.