Want Not
Mariana Meireles Curado
Perhaps needless to say that the beauty, utility, and value of all items disposed of, either careless or carefully, lie in the eyes of those who find them. These are pictures of things (objects, concepts) that the people who live - or at some point lived - around me think you might want. They are for a lucky passer-by’s taking. Some contextually amused me, some seemed to emanate the kind of mundane beauty you only ever find appealing when you’re walking home on your own after a few drinks. In any case and as they say: waste not, want not. People are always trying to give you things you don’t need. I recently read that after the Aberfan incident, people all over the UK queued to give blood, even though there were no survivors in need of blood transfusions. Let’s also come out and say it straight away, some of these things were not lovingly gifted to the neighbourhood. Sometimes you just can’t be asked to call the council to collect something so stupid. Maybe they provide anecdotal evidence of our natural inclination for circular economies - where nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is perpetually traded. Most likely, the only story they tell is simply that they were there and I happened to see them. We must break loose from this tyrannical obsession with narrative structures and character arcs. Your life probably won’t follow a Greek tragedy formula. You might not even end up killing your parents. It could well be that the plot is just that you wake up and you go to work and hopefully at some point during the day you get to see something someone left outside and it makes you smile or laugh.
