Abandoned items this week. Some look like they were thrown out, others might have just got lost along the way and then found by me who recorded their last resting place before their inevitable annihilation, crushed to pieces in the mechanical jaws of a rubbish truck. These pictures are the last remaining evidence of their existence on this Earth, their final moment forever preserved long after their memory has evaporated from the minds of those that once owned them. And seemingly in these first two shots these objects appear to be consoling each other that their days might be numbered.
Now long time followers will know this is a subject I return to time and time again and some of you might question why I continue to document this final period in the lives of these inanimate objects, as they languished on pavements waiting patiently for their demise. I have explained it previously in other posts (you can read here if you like) but over the years my experience has slightly changed.
I used to tap into the sadness of this rejected item, once loved, now cast aside. I felt empathy for an object that I knew could feel nothing but still looked to me like they were suffering which undoubtedly was some projection on my part. However recently I see less the sense of abandonment (which I guess is a good sign) but more the joys of the life they once had. I see mental snapshots of the people that had once owned them and the moments leading up to them being cast aside…
A woman leaving a religious pamphlet at a bus stop (Monday’s pic) in the hope someone would find it and in turn find God. A kid playing grown-ups with their miniature stove (Yesterday’s shot) making imaginary breakfasts for their parents on their most cherished plaything but who inevitably grew out of it and it was unceremoniously tossed out, never to make a fake pancake again. A bike so rusted it looks like it’s actually decomposing (above) and it’s once functional and active life now a distant memory. And yet I can still see the glimmers of its owner joyfully cruising along the canal which is why they eventually left it here as it was their happy place. You get the idea..
I guess it’s a bit like the kid in the sixth sense. I mean sort of. I don’t see dead people but I do see glimpses of ghosts of the past. Actually it’s more like Chew (a reference probably only you will get Ben so I’d better explain). It’s a graphic novel series about a detective who can see how someone was murdered by nibbling a little bit of their flesh and then having a psychic flashback. I know that sounds highly disturbing and can feel you recoiling at the thought but it’s actually very funny and highly recommend. (picture below just to prove I’m not making this shit up)
Cannibal cops aside, if you ever bored (and somehow you have resisted the urge to look at your phone) you can play this game. Take an object, anything you like (it doesn’t have to be on the streets) and then try and imagine the life it had before that moment. You could think about the designer slaving away to meet a deadline, exhausted from his job and pulling his hair out as his toddler is screaming in the background and he can’t concentrate. I always like imagining the final meeting when they discuss the product and establish the right colour scheme driven by the focus group they quizzed on the subject. Never a dull moment in my life as you can see.
I will leave you with this shot which is unique in the sense it was me who had abandoned the object. We were having a clear out and found a painting I’d done when I was young and decided to set it free into the world. I hoped that someone would find it and take it home and give it a new life on their wall rather than it end up on landfill but given its disturbing nature that’s possibly unlikely…