Baggage
Why does going through a woman’s handbag feel as personal as going through their bedroom drawers?
We have been conditioned by media to have a largely curated version of ourselves, while simultaneously wanting to invasively know everything about everyone.
As a society we have a morbid curiosity that fuels social media yet encourages the perpetual cycle of being ‘inauthentically authentic’; the more open we become online, the less ourselves we come. Therefore, our physical belongings become more personal than the thoughts inside our heads, subsequently making the contents of our handbags one of the last physical representations of who we authentically are yet hidden away from public view.
This photo enquiry depicts the same handbag overspilling, starting with personal objects that have connotations of intimacy, yet while taboo, are viewed as attractive to an audience. These same items become increasingly more ‘disgusting’, as the lingerie at the start becomes replaced with mouldy food and litter. Representing how the truth of who we are is often less appealing than what we display through our clothes, personas and on social media; we hide the ugly parts of ourselves the same as the rubbish at the bottom of our handbag.
Simultaneously, the objects become intertwined with natural debris, to represent that this is the natural human state, contrasting the airbrushed and curated version we choose to present ourselves to the world. Despite how mundane or inconsequential you consider your belongings to be, each item has a purpose, a use, a story of how and why it travels with you everywhere; there is something so disgustingly human about the natural desire to know people intimately.
Project Aim:
For the Fashion anthropology project, we were told to investigate the relationship between identity and fashion, to create an artistic outcome that explores the meaning behind our clothes.
Project approach:
I aimed to go a step further, by exploring not only the outward semiotics of our clothes, but the contents. Our belongings that we take with us everywhere, hidden from view, a physical embodiment of our daily needs, interests and hobbies. All inside our bags.
Initially looking into “What’s in my bag?” content online, the projected developed into exploring ‘why do people care what’s in your bag?’
Project result:
The result is a conceptual photo story that displays a plain bag over spilling with increasingly taboo and grotesque objects, while cameras invasively flash from every angle. Cultivating to reflect how in an age of social media, we lose a part of ourselves curating a personality to be perceived by others online, with the last truly authentic part of ourselves being the remanence at the bottom of our bags.
Project skills:
This project invigorated me, applying a journalistic approach to research, and creating a meaningful piece of storytelling from seemingly unimportant objects. My written statement is the highlight of work, encouraging me to explore more written outlets.
