Digital photograph
Detritus, abandoned, refuse, urban, attention
April 2022

What do abandoned items tell us about ourselves, and what happens when we pay attention to them?

This is a digital photograph. I am not a photographer. I do not feel that my photographs are art. Why is that? Because smartphones have made photography more accessible and I do not remember how to develop film anymore since I haven’t done it in 18 years? Because it feels too easy? Because it’s not well-considered enough? When would it be enough? Who is the arbiter of enough-ness?

This is a picture of garbage and detritus alongside the sidewalk on Quinpool Road in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. Noticing the beauty in decay is also nothing new. Paying attention to what gets caught up in the flow of air, water, traffic, humans, life – what can I learn from that? What doesn’t make it through? What fails? What traces are left?