'Waste' Brainstorming and Initial Ideas

Brainstorming ideas for our current 'Waste' project

After our lecture about our new project in which I took down general notes about waste, names of photographers linked to photographing waste and some definitions of the word, I put these together in a diagram along with some random ideas I could use for the project.

Through writing down all my notes and additional research I did in one place I was able to look at it all together and draw links between things which I have highlighted in yellow. I also highlighted the photographers who's work I admired the most.

How I came to my idea...

I considered waste more metaphorically like 'a waste of space' or a 'waste of time' and considered finding uncultivated land to take a series of landscapes of which could be given more purpose; it being a waste of space just as it is.

While also planning on going to my local tip and photographing the organisation of waste and recycling I suddenly imagined an empty field accompanied by a living set up - an old sofa and chair, old television and rug etc., some things which you might find in a tip that people have got rid of for whatever reason. They will be arranged as if they are in a real room and they are in use but there will be no physical room (no walls, roof or floor). A set made up of things people discard because they don't want them anymore despite the fact they can still serve a purpose. I want the significance of them being out of place - in a field - to represent how things can be put to use somewhere else if they are unwanted in one place, no matter where. Taking the objects out of context highlights how their purpose is versatile. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" after all. This also links well with the fact that waste is directly linked to human development.

Visual references and inspiration

I wrote down the names of the photographers we had been advised to look at concerning waste as a theme when I first started brainstorming. I particularly liked Anne Hardy's constructed rooms of things she had collected; deemed 'waste' by others. However, I thought recreating something similar would take too long and for this reason would not be a wise path to take. Her photographs are a particular visual reference as I aim to do a similar thing but outside a room and with more solid objects but less collectable things.

Other concepts I was interested in

I thought about using recyclable objects or general scrap to build something useful - something like a dog kennel, and photograph this. This would show the versatile aspect of things people throw away.

I also liked the idea of 'waste' being defined as a noun, particularly: "to wear down or reduce in bodily substance, health or strength" which considers the idea of waste more metaphorically.