WEEK 1 :

objects

Objects have the capacity to be boring or in the right light and context regal. They absolutely tell us so much about the owner or the circumstances the story finds itself in. 

When housed in storytelling they could also be called the 'Details'. They are probably used in storytelling more than anything else you may be surprised to know. I was surprised to realise this. Being hypnotised as we all have been by commerce we forget to realise that we are being told stories all day long. Through advertising and marketing, most of the time the story is being told to sell us an object. An object disguised as an idea.

Still life photography has been a long tradition coming from an even longer tradition of still life painting. This kind of painting used to have purpose. It wasn’t just a random collection of objects. Still lives were full of clues and information, markers of the owners status and position.

In fact objects have been used for hundreds of years to sell us an idea. In the renaissance period it was a popular trend among the well-to-do to have your most fancy objects painted. They then could be displayed for all to see how blinged up you were. Not a far cry really from taking selfies with your Chanel bag, or whatever will impress people like you, and throwing it up on Instagram. They’d have their snazziest candlesticks, lots of hard to obtain fruit like grapes and they’d throw in a skull for good measure and boom influence and status.

For years I've been doing a project I like to call 'Stuff on the Floor' which is obviously a genius name, akin to when I called my gold fish Goldie and my dog Blackie…cause he was, well black. I'll work on it. But the point is I think it's a great exercise. 

We are all going someplace in the week and we are going someplace on floors. So it's practical and doable. 
I like to see what I can find on the street in particular. What things get discarded or lost. If those objects could whisper to you, what journey have they been on what happened to them. Sometimes you find bizarre things that must have a story. 

Picture someone getting home and thinking they’re sure they bought a bag of fish at the shop but where the hell is it. The fun thing is it's like a weird little treasure hunt, to collect these interesting objects. I like to think all these things have stories to tell, I like finding them and wondering about them. Sometimes you can find things squashed perfectly into their own shape on the road so they look like a 2d illustration. We could call them street paintings. Where somehow the pavement and whatever else is floating around conspire to form a little scene. 

So have a look around at things you may not have really looked at before. Look how seemingly ordinary things can be transformed by a certain light. Look at people on the bus or wherever you are. Try and find the one object they have with them, or are wearing, that if isolated could tell us the most about them, that could speak to an essence of them. If nothing else it's a fun game to pass the time in a queue.

Try to end up on Sunday with four of these you really like. Four objects on the street you think have a little story to tell.