Self directed project – Hoarding
Psychological ownership and attachment theory :
https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/anxiety/obsessive-compulsive-and-related-disorders/the-psychology-of-hoarding-disorder-approaches-for-treatment/
I wanted to look deeper into some of the possible aspect sof hoarding, its treatments and diagnosis to see for myself if I’d be able to find interesting fact sthat I might’ve missed before or didn’t know of.
I found that most of the facts stated I was already aware of although I learned that hoarding is a disorder which is actually not fully yet studied. There are still treatments being tested and very little percentage of people who have been diagnosed actually recover fully and have been proved to never hoarder again.
Artist study:
Song Dong: ‘Waste not’ installation :
https://publicdelivery.org/song-dong-waste-not/
IntroductionSong Dong’s Waste Not is an installation with a story behind it. A testament born of the artist’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan’s hoardings, the installation consists of tools, plant, pots, chairs, empty squeezed out tubes of toothpaste, television sets, all collected over a span of five decades. This obsessive hoarding of items resulted in an accumulation of everyday objects. At first glance, Waste Not seems like a messy room full of used up items and rubbish. However, it has powerful message that speaks volumes of the Chinese culture, memory and how social and political changes wrought changes in people.A message about consumerismIt is a showcase of past times when there was no cavalier attitude towards disposable consumerism, and instead, there was a ‘waste not’ approach towards life. For Song Dong’s mother, everything could be hoarded and she did. From biscuit tins to empty fast food and drink containers, crockery, blankets, record players, shoes, plastic bottles and childhood toys all of which hold memories.The meaning of the exhibitionWhile the installation was initially a collaboration between Song Dong and his mother, after her death in 2009, he remakes the exhibition as a process of grieving to commemorate his mother and bring together the entire family again. He remakes this exhibition with his sister’s and wife’s help. In doing so, it is a rekindling of memories and evoking powerful emotions through rediscovering personal family objects and obiects his mother liked, used and kept. In the 2005 exhibition, Song and Xiangyuan created a neon sign facing the stars with a message to his father, “Dad, don’t worry, mum and all thefamily are well.”AnalysisTherefore, his installation acts as a way of memorializing and reminiscing. It is a bittersweet journey of loss, hardship, and resilience. Through the installation in cataloging the objects she had accumulated through the years, Song Dong’s mother was able to share her childhood memory and overcome her pain.About the artistSong Dong is a Chinese conceptual artist born in 1966. He is renowned for his artwork combining different styles and aspects such as performance, photography, sculpture, video and installation. He is particularly enticed by notions of transience and impermanence and this is evident in his work even as he elates everyday realities and concerns. He is widelyexhibited and graduated from Normal University in 1989.
My own dispaly of hoarding items in the form of an installition similar to Song Dong’s:
