…life is all about acquiring stuff, then acquiring more stuff, maybe changing your stuff round a little, then acquiring even more stuff, then getting a bigger place because there is no room for all your stuff, getting rid of your stuff, then getting a smaller place because you haven’t got as much stuff. Then you die.
Martin Kelner, ‘Theory of The Meaning of Life, the Importance of Stuff’
The independent, 15 May 1993
In 2001 and 2002 my parents died shortly after each other. The Polaroids I took of their belongings before their house was cleared, became 22 years later the basis of a contemporary vanitas that invites reflection on the passing of time and on the urge to create our own domestic museums while accumulating a huge amount of possessions.
The still image video projection (13:08) consists of twenty-three images that slowly emerge out of light grey with the following subtitles:
That’s what they did
A year after each other
Leaving all that stuff
Laden with memories
But I won’t go there
You have plenty of your own
That stuff as well
Accumulated over time
Nagged by feelings of guilt
Climate change and all that
In the rooms of your refuge
Hoarding images of bliss
A museum of recollections
Curated by your superego with care
Avoiding the pain of tribulation
Death waiting to happen
Heroically hastened by him
Quickly treaded on his heels
Her life and limb amputated
No epitaphs on tombstones
Thrown into the air
Ashes to ashes, dandruff and sand
Musing laughter after all