Matthew Mills

Bins

Bins is a series in which I have started looking at mundane everyday objects that people interact with. This is how I came to look at bins as a project. The shoots consist of bins across central Manchester, with the central focus of the image being the bin itself. The inspiration for this work is a book, published by OutOfPlaceBooks, called Hanley Car Parks by Daniel Lyttleton.

“Ticket machines sprout from every orifice of the town like weeds in a neglected garden once fit for purpose.”

Lyttleton (2023)

This quote is one of the sections inside his work that explains the way he feels when seeing a ticket machine and the connotations that it brings. The way Lyttleton thinks about this mundane object is fascinating due to it being an object and scene that people would ordinarily not think about and just accept as normal boring life things. Although this is what some people think, this can also lead to the most interesting work due to the ways that people are often taken aback by what has been shot and how it has subsequently been presented.

The way that Lytteton has presented his work shows a level of understanding in different aspects. The acceptance of what he has shot being carparks and the way that he then chooses to build upon this with the style of the front cover of the book. The way that he uses text to establish a connection with the viewer about the style of work and his personal thoughts of what he has shot in context. This idea of building a common understanding due to obscurity is how I would like to build my work. However, I would like to do this from the start, making sure that all the images that are being shot are the total subject of the image and only have that in frame with no or few distractions. This work also links well to the main themes of my self-directed project, as it continues with the symbolism of modern-day urban environments and the way that the use of bins keeps rubbish off the streets, which in turn helps the look and cleanliness of the environment in which they are a part.

References

“Hanley Car Parks by Daniel Lyttleton | Village. Leeds, UK.” Village., villagebooks.co/products/hanley-car-parks. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.