“Deaccession Project”

When my parents came to town last month, I took them to see the deCordova Museum. It so happened that the museum was in the middle of a show by Rachel Perry Welty, an artist who uses a lot of everyday materials in her work. One in particular that got my attention was called “Deaccession Project.”

Ms. Welty started this ongoing project back on October 5th, 2005. It is an installation of 2,028 photo prints (so far) of objects she has selected, one per day to give away, donate, recycle or toss. Each print includes several written lines under the image about the item: the date the photo was taken, a description or explanation of the item, the reason the artist decided to remove it from her possession and what she did with it. Objects vary from family heirlooms to a wad of gum wrappers she found in her son’s room (a note on that print doubted he’d miss it). There are items that relate to changes in her family, such as the college essay and application that she recycled because her son was already in college, or everyday living, such as a pen she tried out and decided she didn’t like and tossed.

Ms. Welty’s systematic method of getting rid of one object each day is one way to go through your stuff, though it would be a very long and slow process to organize a house using this artistic method. Of course the artist wasn’t doing this for sake of organizing but to make an art out of our relation to objects. Still it’s similar to organizing when letting go of items.  Her 2,028-print record of the stuff she let go is an important part of her art. For non-artists, photographing a few objects can be one way of letting go of objects they no longer need while keeping them at the same time. It takes a lot less room to keep digital photos on your hard drive or print photos in an album.

April is spring cleaning month. If you’re up for a Rachel Perry Welty-style spring cleaning challenge, try to:

– Systematically get rid of 10 items a day for two weeks and see how you feel, or

– Pick one room and organize a quarter of it each week for a month, including getting rid of things/finding home for all things from the room that you decide to keep.

Please do let me know if you’re doing this and the overall result!