After reading about the work of Michael Landy, I decided to focus upon installation artists who look at consumerism and lifelong possessions. I came across the work of Jasper Joffe, who is a painter and artist by trade. He created "The Sale of a Lifetime" exhibition whereby he decided to sell every single thing he owned and start again from scratch.
The exhibition was born from Joffe separating from his long term girlfriend and mother to his child, as well as being no longer represented by a gallery he has worked with for years. He felt like he had hit rock bottom, and the only way to pick himself up and carry on was for him to begin again. At the age of 33, he made this a theme through the sale, labelling sets of his belongings for an asking price of £3,333 each.
"If everything is sold, I will make £109,000, for a life's possession it's not a lot really… When you die people look through all your stuff and probably get rid of most of it… I suppose I hit rock bottom and I realised my life was in crisis, but at the same time I found this kind of freedom. I think by putting everything I own and putting everything on show I can find out where I am with my life..."
After researching into hoarding as a physiological disorder, it has become clear that many people suffering from it have had something significant happen in their lives to spark it. After watching "Hoarder Next Door", one subject suffered the death of his long term partner, and the grief sparked him to be physically unable to let go of items that meant even the slightest bit of significance towards him. After reading about this exhibition, and seeing that many collectors have suffered grief, I need to be careful and considerate with meeting up with my subjects close to the deadline, to make sure I obtain the right images, and leave them in the same state they were when I arrived.
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