Things we treasure

There’s a lovely word in German: it’s called ‘Einrichtungsgegenstand’(item of furniture”).
It reminds me of the word ‘Aufbewahrung’ (storage), which has only featured in the definition of a piece of furniture since Ikea started selling its goods in Germany. Before that, it simply referred to the act of storing things.
Now, an Ikea storage unit is also a piece of furniture. But nobody loves it. Rather, it reminds you that you have to find somewhere to put all the things you’ve bought. And that immediately raises the question: ‘Do I really need these things? And a storage unit on top of that?’
It can be quite different with old cupboards, or tables and chairs. Even junk lying around uselessly can be loved. Things big and small can be cherished. That is the beauty of love: it begins slowly somewhere, or quite suddenly. And then it is simply there.
Those who have set their hearts on an object should be my subjects. The objects themselves, too.
They want to come into the light, and with them their owners.

Without manufactured, durable objects, we would have nothing but the cycle of survival. With them, we gain a shared world that gives us stability, familiarity and identity.
"Durability lends things a relative independence, an ‘objectivity’, which enables them to ‘resist’ the insatiable needs of their creators and to endure, at least for a time. Seen in this light, things serve to stabilise human life, to offer us an identity amidst the torrent of change, so that the same chair and the same table always face us with unchanging familiarity.”
Hannah Arendt, Vita activa

To establish a unifying element between the different people, objects and diptychs within the overall project, I have used a clearly defined formal language consisting of specific shapes and lines, which have been integrated into the images.
In addition, there are brief explanations from those portrayed. These personal stories recount how the individuals came to possess their objects — and in doing so reveal the memories, meanings and feelings associated with them. This offers small insights into individual relationships, appreciation and affection.