More Obsessions...

The very first proper post on this blog featured a reference to an ongoing photographic project that figures within the narrative of the film ‘Smoke’, wherein one of the characters has daily taken an early morning picture from the same spot of the crossroads scene opposite his tobacconist store: ostensibly, the photos – which number 4000 – are all the same, but of course each is different in an infinite variety of details – e.g. weather & light conditions, the presence & passage or absence of human & vehicular traffic.

In a circular coming-up-to-date & similar vein, I’ve recently acquired & read a most interesting little publication, being aware of its existence for some time: Harland Miller’s ‘First I Was Afraid, I was Petrified’. Essentially a short story on the subject & nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it is illustrated, delightfully, fascinatingly, by a series of photographs of the same subject – an ordinary, domestic gas cooker with all points switched to & showing their ‘off’ position, in order to allay the owner-sufferer’s fears of their house being consumed by fire during their absence at work – all ostensibly the same, again, but all showing slight variations on the theme, through light conditions, focus & incidental details, as illustrated.




There's also an amusing little twist at the end. A fine work of art to have, refer to & enjoy.

I’m very aware of the obsessive, compulsive nature of, for instance, drawing &, perhaps, particularly the current Project. There also seems to be a very strong sense of such in my other current reading matter - as previously mentioned, Georges Perec’s ‘Life a User’s Manual’ & the tendency of its narrative to obsessively list, for example, the contents of rooms & apartments in minute detail: it’s a curious read but deeply rewarding in its idiosyncrasies.