The Art of Keeping

The art of keeping “It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like a disaster.” Elizabeth Bishop, One Art. “I am a hunter. Once I have hunted something, I know I've got it. I don't need to look at it all the time.” (Anonymous horder) “You are hoarding hoarders.” (Anonymous horder) ---- I have always been interested in exploring the intricate relationships built between people and objects. This photographic body of work, which started in 2011, is about hoarders and the objects they feel an urge to keep. Motivated by (in)famous American TV programmes on hoarding and maybe as a somehow angry response to the insensitivity they displayed towards the collectors of apparent garbage, I felt urged to see these places myself, and to talk to hoarders to try to understand what lies behind their compulsive need for having.