I started photographing discarded objects in 2015, I’m fascinated by the traces of the life that’s often found on them, the life they once lived, the marks, the patterns, the dirt, and fingerprints. I feel I can sense something when photographing let’s say an extremely old hoover, carpets, broken ovens, old televisions, sofas, old fridge freezers that have not been cleaned, the inside still mucky with old food stains, discarded worn-out shoes, half-eaten sandwiches, a blood-stained coat, debt letters, and the list goes on! I sense the owners they once belonged to and can imagine all the possible life stories.
I have started to realize I’ve always noticed the details of the wear and tear of life. My childhood home was a flat within a regency townhouse in 1980s Brighton. The only one in the street that hadn’t had its frontage restored, it was covered in peeling paint and really stood out against all the other regency cream-painted buildings. Inside was also worn and torn and whilst growing up, I was hyper-aware of the building’s general state of disrepair and signs of use by other tenants. It was very different from my school friend’s houses; I had a love-hate relationship with it. Looking back, it was a beautiful home. My mum did her best to make it so.
I spotted Oliver’s work whilst researching and it immediately resonated with me, the marks his grandmother had made on her lino, all the twists, and turns of her life lived within her kitchen.
Thank you, Oliver, for allowing me to feature your work. It’s one of the best things I have seen in a long time.
"Oma was the name Oliver Beer called his grandmother. She put the lino down in the 1960’s and over four decades her feet gradually wore through the decorative pattern. Over the years marks appeared in front of the oven, the sink, the front door, where she turned around in front of the fridge, where she sat at her table shuffling her feet. Like a drawing made over forty years, these worn patches describe half a lifetime of movement. The earliest work that Beer still exhibits, this object preempts his work with architectural space and transformed readymades." www.oliverbeer.co.uk
Oliver Beer Oma's Kitchen Floor, 2008 Linoleum kitchen floor worn over four decades 511 x 350 cm Collection of the artist. Image © Oliver Beer