Ghetto Furniture Showcase
Welcome to the Ghetto Furniture Showcase!
What is the Ghetto Furniture Showcase? It’s a photographic essay; an observation of used furniture and appliances left behind by the people in my neighbourhood, from 2003 – 2013.
I lived in a densely populated neighbourhood that consisted mostly of rental apartments, with a high turnover of people moving in, and out. At the end of my street, there was a large grass island in the middle of a cul-de-sac. At the end of each month, the locals left their unwanted furniture and appliances on this grassy island. Sometimes, some of the items like chairs, tables and sofas, were good enough that people would take them into their own homes, while many other things were tacky and hideous.
My girlfriend and I would pass by this place quite often, and gaze in wonder and bewilderment at the crazy looking assortment of used furniture and appliances. Then one day as we were driving by, she said "This is such ghetto furniture!" We laughed, and I said "I should take photos of this stuff! There should be a series!" It was at that moment when my girlfriend came up with the phrase "Ghetto Furniture Showcase!"
That was back in 2003. I had a blog back then, and on that blog I first mentioned the phrase "Ghetto Furniture Showcase" and I posted a few snapshots of a trashy looking stove and sofa. For me, the individual pieces of furniture felt like they had their own sort of ‘character’. I felt the need to anthropomorphize them, and started including captions with each photo. A couple of years later, I turned the Ghetto Furniture Showcase into a series on Flickr. It became quite popular, and after several seasons of the series, some of the fans suggested that I should make a book.
After ten years of taking photos of the exciting, ever-changing Ghetto Furniture Showcase, like all good things, it came to an end. The Ghetto Furniture Showcase existed on public property, and the city decided to bulldoze the cul-de-sac and retrofit the area with pavement. This was the end of the series. In 2013, I compiled all of the Ghetto Furniture Showcase photos and made a book.
Presenting the Showcase…
