Mausoleums of Precious Belongings
Stuff: de-cluttering, upsizing, downsizing, moving on, emigrating, travelling, hoarding, re-locating, re-decorating, consuming, earning, wishing, hoping, attaching, detaching, mourning, going somewhere, going nowhere, clinging on, letting go, in-between.
In the self-storage spaces on the outskirts of most cities and towns you might be anywhere in the world, while also being nowhere. The corridors of these spaces echo with the reverberations of ‘hurried life’ and are vaults in which to safely deposit the uncertain relationship we have with our belongings. In this globalised yet, at the same time, fragmenting world, at some point things became complicated, unsettled and ambivalent.
In Ireland in the ‘90’s and ‘00’s, especially when consumerism and rising house prices really took off, it was realised that we needed spaces dedicated to storing stuff, where, to quote the self-storage industry in ‘70s America, facilities functioned “as transitional solutions to moving, marrying or divorcing, or a death in the family.” These spaces also cater for both the 'tourists and vagabonds' (to quote Zygmunt Bauman) of our uncertain times, delivering a kind of Band-Aid solution to humanity on the move. Mausoleums of (at one and the same time) precious and worthless ‘baggage’ offer ‘space as security and space as freedom…’ and a solution to human nature’s sentimental attachment to belongings and memories or obsessions with owning possessions. In Freud’s ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Life’ these spaces might also be seen as transitional spaces of mourning and grief as we untangle and detach ourselves from objects. So, these are the spaces designed for our times. What will future archaeologists make of our 21st century world when these tombs are excavated?
This long-term project was mostly made c.2015 in and around Dublin and was exhibited for the first time in DLR Lexicon Gallery in 2017. Subsequently, selected images were included in a group exhibition ‘Politics of Place’ at PhotoMuseum Ireland in 2022. Today, the work can be viewed in the wider context of being part of an Irish society which underwent tremendous changes in relation to space: From the recession years after the so-called ‘celtic tiger’ where people were uprooted and dislocated, to today’s poorly organised planning system and lack of investment in housing which has resulted in not enough homes for the needs of a rapidly growing population.
Through photographs and stories the project has documented these spaces and the life experiences which bring people to them.
Here are some of the storage stories….
Catherine
“I came back from America seven years ago with my son, with the hope of starting over and brought a lot of stuff back. On the weekend it arrived my father had a massive heart attack and died..so I ended up never moving on and have been living with my mum for the past seven years.... I’m moving it to a friend’s warehouse now and its upsetting to have to shift it to somewhere else, ‘cos I always said this was only a short term solution....”
Garry
“I’m working as a merchandiser for Unilever...installing displays in supermarkets and we store them here. I graduated last October so this is a part time job to keep me going. I want to work in property. I’m getting a call this afternoon about a graduate position in a US multinational’s Global Property Services team. It’d be my dream job.”
Julie
“I’m storing some of my household possessions ‘cos I’m a hoarder and I’ve no room left and I’m also about to move to Canada... permanently... so this is just an in-between phase...”
Lidka
“One week ago the roof has been blown off our apartment by the wind and we were evacuated and in a hotel for a few nights and then we got a replacement apartment. So we just need to store until the roof is fixed. We’re getting married next week and our families are coming to over to the wedding so it’s very stressful...”
Christian
“We’ve been storing stuff for nearly a year so we’re moving back in. We moved out of our own house – it was (renovated) from top to bottom so we had to move out. It’s amazing to come back and look at stuff after a year and realise you’ve forgotten what you had. There’s a box labelled ‘handbags’ and I’d say if I didn’t bring it home, it wouldn’t be missed.”
Frank
“We do car boot sales and we need to store some stuff in between moving to different car boot sales”
Micheál
“I’m going to be moving house. When the time comes to move it will happen fast, so I need to get as much as possible out of the house beforehand, so that I can just take even a carload or small van load from one house to another.””
Orla
“I’m a bit of a clutter person and I’ve realised that it has sort of dominated a lot of stuff in my life, so I’m just clearing a lot out so that I can make room for the new – the emerging new –whatever that new is. You can’t be too sure of anything, as I know. And really we’ve been doing so much over the past ten years - in terms of trying to adopt, foster and IVF. Everything fell through.We were told that we had one egg frozen and they were going to send us a bill and that was the only reason we did it, ‘cos we went in and there weret wo eggs frozen and we went ‘oh, so we better uset hem then’ and I’m way over the age – but there have been medical advancements in IVF in the last few months and I did it – so it’s down to advancements in technology that it worked. But, saying that, it’s still a long journey – so this is about clearing anything that’s not necessary in my life...clearing away clutter.”
John
“Its my furniture, the bike and all me stuff I have from my previous address. You see, I’m in between two addresses and I’m only allowed a certain amount– the bike I’m not allowed and other things...You see its an old people’s home where I am now. I was supposed to get a wee flat or a wee house but unfortunately ...”
John
“A friend of a friend told me she needed to move her storage because she’d just got a new house andI said “Ok... I’ve got a trailer.” And I got a phone call last night saying “I wonder could you help today” and I said “Ok.” “Fine. If she loses me on the way to this mysterious storage place I will abandon the trip and return home and we shall never discuss it again.” My lady friend Treasa came in another car and I think we’re going to have to make another trip. So, I’m quite impressed by the scale of this storage place. I said to myself when I saw this photographer this morning, she must be really weird photographing this – very unique, very difficult. I couldn’t figure out was it industrial photography, was it a company. If you’re an artist you can bring something creative to everything. That’s the big lesson I’ve learned this morning. So it was worth me undertaking this –no matter what endeavours, you can bring the divine light or the aesthetic to the mundane.”
