The Burning House Project | 2014

To many who are not familiar with art or photography in particular, I introduce you the “Burning House Project.” It is a photography project in which the subject is to answer the question: “What would you take with you if your house is burning?”

This project was introduced to me when I was still a student in college and was taking a course in photography. It was such a fun class, we got to use film SLR cameras to take photographs and develop them in a dark room. Good times! Anyways, so my professor talked about this brilliant assignment in class and proposed us to take on it.

The photograph above was taken in 2014 as part of my photography class portfolio. It was somewhat fun to think about the scenario, but it was also difficult. That year I still owned a lot of things - it was definitely during pre-minimalism time there. I owned a lot of stuff then, and sorting out my lot to come up with the things I would bolt out with during emergency was… a chore. I would imagine that I will end up dying because I needed to gather all these things. So, most things in the photograph were sentimental things that I would take with me if my house was in flames.

Here, I’ll list them for you (from left to right):

1. Box of letters and cards (I used to exchange handwritten letters with my best friend)
2. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Digital Camera (no longer have it as of today - sold)
3. Plush toy (Mokona/Larg from XxxHolic)
4. Photo album
5. Peter Pan book (present from friend)
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book
7. The Clow Book (Toy from Cardcaptor Sakura anime)
8. 1 TB HD (I have already started to digitalize documents/photos)
9. Leather military boots (to be donated - see from previous blog post)

Now that I assess the 2014 Burning House photograph, I am certain that I won’t be reaching for the same things again. I am planning to do another quick shoot of the Burning House project soon, so I am posting this old project now to later use to to compare it with the new project. Currently, I am not sure how it will be nor what items will I be taking with me this year (if my place burns) - but I am looking forward to see how it turns out!