THINGS PEOPLE HAVE

A photographic record of people's things is one of the purest forms of social documentary. Our shoes, buildings, dogs, cars, gardens, gadgets, art and furniture—as well as the other people in our lives and our own bodies—provide important insight into who we are and how we experience ourselves. While we select some things for their utility, we select many others as representations of ourselves.  We sometimes choose a chair because it is simply comfortable to sit in. But we can also choose a chair because it makes us feel a certain way about ourselves or appear a certain way to others. The king has a special chair and the scolded child a special stool.

Because we thus often represent ourselves in our things, most of the images in this collection are covert portraits. Some are portraits of intelligence, beauty or refinement, the accomplished and engaging expressions of American culture. Others are portraits of things less accomplished, sometimes even inexplicable. Things People Have is both an homage and a critique. For me, it is an eclectic, if oblique, portrait of who we have been and how we have lived over the past half century.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT © WALT WHITMAN ODETS 1965-2009