'I am What I Own' 2008
Collections, the Self and the World S. Pearce
I wanted to explore the link between identity and material possessions and, in particular, how we express, maintain and reinforce our identity through the objects we acquire over the life time.
I decided to photograph people’s collections by a few reasons: first of all, urge to possess is one of the primary instincts, certain degree of which we all have. Secondly, in most cases, collections haven’t any utilitarian or practical values, therefore, they mostly represent one’s personal taste or choice. Thirdly, the identity of an object itself in a context of a collection is shifting - the object loses all its practical values and becomes an object of display. Through the project I was exploring the idea of how deeply the fulfillment of individual and his relationship with the outside world is dependent on material objects.