After returning home for the eleventh time after a divorce, Barbara Iwain decided to get her life and everything in it.
Moving from room to room, she recorded all her objects for almost five years, from loose Lego blocks and old key chains to remote controls, kitchen utensils and other small items.
The resulting 12,795 images provide an intimate and unfiltered portrait of a Belgian photographer. Her approach (vibrator and her dental dentist mold is one of many personal items in stock) is almost the exact opposite of today’s social media, and what users expose to the world. Carefully manage.
Among her most unexpected discoveries was the abundant metal comb used to extract head lice from the hair of her three children. “It’s something we’re always losing, and I’ve noticed that I have six or seven of these things,” she said. “I was always amazed at everything I had lost and repurchased.”
Examples of many items from Barbara Iweins’ Catalog. credit: Barbara Iwayne
This project encouraged photographers to think about her own materialism, and the consumerism of society as a whole. She estimates that € 121,046 was spent on the entire contents of the house, but her inventory reveals that only 1% of the objects have sentimental value. I did. Still, she retains what she calls a “connection” with thousands of possessions.
“It’s a little sad,” she said. “And my friends are mostly travelers and they really feel a little disappointed with me, so I fully understand-but having (relationship with mine) makes me I’m relieved. “
And despite being a self-proclaimed “neurotic collector,” photographers don’t think they’re hoarding themselves. “I give a lot of things, I don’t buy too much-I think I’m a normal person,” she said.
“I know there are a lot of them,” she added. “But I thought there were more.”
Act of “self-preservation”
And, often isolated and mediocre, each photo contains a story of her life: a ferocious novel she took from her 16-year-old father’s library, in the hospital she wore at birth. A bracelet, or an anxiolytic that you started taking in your early 40s.
Over the years, Iweins spent an average of 15 hours a week on projects. Bringing order to her turmoil has become a kind of “cure” that helped her overcome not only her divorce, but her subsequent death of her boyfriend.
“When I started, I really believed I was tired of moving home and moving my stuff,” she said. “And I realized it wasn’t at all. It was like an act of self-preservation. Doing something every day was really organizing my life in my mind. It’s a positive process.
“Once the project is complete and we have identified which objects are worth it, I can start living,” she added. “I think it was there for all the reasons.”
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