Magnolia Avenue

Magnolia Avenue
Artist Statement

The selling of one’s unwanted things to others has always struck me as odd. While I would not argue the practicality of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, there is uncertainty when sifting through another person’s abandoned objects. For one reason or another, these things have been rejected and decidedly not worthy of continuing on with the original owners. One investigates, scrutinizes, and determines a new personal value on these items, items of which have histories and memories associated that will always remain a mystery to the new keeper. The camera used to produce the images in this series was found at one of these human exchanges. I determined the value of an old Sears KS Super accompanied by two lenses and 35mm film of an unknown age or quality. I wanted to portray the elusiveness of individual homes within the neighborhood in which I found this camera. Each home holds its own discrete mystery and uncertainty. When I stop to contemplate the history and memories that occupy these dwellings, unknown to me, I am unsettled yet intrigued by the secrets. I again find it slightly peculiar that it is so normal for people to move from house to house, making and remaking homes inside the previous homes of strangers, resulting in houses becoming shells containing layers and layers of history.  The undetermined quality of the acquired film with the state of the camera allowed me to depict and experience the uncertainty and obscurity of the homes of strangers.