The First Entry by the Founder of The Burning House Project –
Name: Foster Huntington. Location: New York City. Occupation: Fashion.
List: My Grandfather’s Explorer Scout Shirt. Naked and Famous Jeans.
Zeiss 35mm f/2. Nike SFB boots. Ralph Lauren Alligator Belt. Leatherman Wave Black. One basalt rock from the Columbia River Gorge. One shell from Nicaragua. Three shells and one stone from the Maine coast. 45 RPM Orange Bandanna. Vintage Woolrich Horse skin hunting gloves.
LaCie Rugged External Hard Drive (all of my photos and image research).
Rolex Submariner Date with Zulu Ballistic Nylon Band. Oakley Razor Blades. Ernest Thompson Seaton, “Two Little Savages” (well worth a read).
iPhone 4. Not Pictured. Canon 5D Mark II. Sigma 50mm f/1.4
Name: Maggie Rudy Age: 52 . Location: Portland, Oregon. Occupation: artist, children’s book illustrator . Items: Jackie, my childhood doll
my wallet, made from a feed sack a postcard from Maurice Sendak, received in response to a fan letter I wrote in 1970 my great-grandmother’s prom dress. my glasses. pictures of my sons. a bird brooch, given to me by my husband. a photograph of my dad, circa 1938 by Brett Weston. little felt mice characters that I made. my laptop.
Name: Nicole Massaro. Age: 29. Location: South Carolina. Occupation: Graphic Designer. List: My great grandmother’s four leaf clover pin. A special letter from my beau. A special letter from my great grandmother.
My grandfather’s gospel music recordings. A piece of wallpaper torn from my childhood home.
Name: Fernando Martin Calero. Age: 31. Location: Cordoba, Argentina. Occupation: Administrativo. List: Mis cámaras Pentax K1000 y Pentax ME mas Lentes. Posillo con el regalo de la chica mas linda. Brújula que me regalo mi abuelo. Cortadora de Pelo Remington de mi viejo. Uno de mis libros Preferidos: Forastero en Tierra Extraña, de Robert Heinlein. Lentes para leer subtitulos de películas y anime. $$$. Cortaplumas Victorinox.
MP3 algo anticuado. Celular Nokia 1100, el mejor de todos. Película color 200 ASA. Billetera con Tarjetas de Crédito, Documento y un recuerdo muy especial. Cigarrillos y encendedor Mini BIC. Alfombra.
Name: Andrew Raymond . Age: 23. Location: Melbourne, Australia . Occupation: Freelance Photographer. List: Coach leather duffle-bag previously owned by my father. Passport. Tiffany’s Atlas money-clip I bought with my first paycheck. N.D.C. leather cardholder reading, ‘rich girls don’t marry poor boys’. Taperecorder with a recording of my seven-year-old reading an original story. My love, Miranda. Admiral Ackbar figurine. Key-shaped tiepin. Tom Ford glasses (so that I can see well enough to find all of the aforementioned).
Name: Wei Jun Liu. Age: 24. Location: New York. Occupation: Student
List: My Sketch Book. My First Photo Book. Panda Toy. Mu Dan Dual-lens reflex camera (A gift from my father). Canon Powershot SD990IS Digital Camera. Canon AE-1 Film Camera. Alarm Clock, my father bought in 1986.
Portable External Hard Drive. Konica WaiWai 17mm Film Camera. Benson Film Camera. Rayban & Vintage Sunglasses. iPhone. Wallet (with my Family Photos, Credit Cards and ID). Film (Gift from my friends). Passport
Notebook & Sketchbook. Not Pictured: Canon EOS 450D.
Name: Stephanie Neubauer. Age: 31. Location: german-born, floridian-based. Occupation: Mom. List: 1 husband. 1 son. 3 cats. 3 passports. 1 canon (not pictured) and up and away!
Name: Frankie Anderson. Age: 29. Location: Edinburgh, Scotland. Occupation: Administrator. List: I wondered around my house, looking at the ornaments and memories that filled it. I collected a few things, even photographed them. But somehow they didn’t seem to fit together. And then I looked down, at my feet, and realized that all I needed or wanted to ‘save’ from the burning house was me.
“If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.”
This is the one question New York-based photographer Foster Huntington asks to the world at large on his blog “The Burning House Project”. He began the project with one entry – his own personal response – on May 1st 2011. Only 7 months later he has accumulated 276 more responses from people all over the world.
The project Huntington describes as “an interview condensed into one question” must also be condensed into one photograph. People from Israel to Iowa laid their most treasured objects on a variety of surfaces from silky bedroom quilts to shiny kitchen tables – then snapped a photo and sent along an itemized list of all the objects they would save from that proverbial fire.
This is one way of looking at stuff – imagining where each item in your house would fall on a triage list. The result has been an amazingly articulate and beautiful visual dialog about what matters to people today. You will find several electronics interspersed with pets and photographs meant as stand-ins for loved ones (both living and deceased) among an array of bric a brac items imbued with particular meaning to each of their respective owners.
The common thread that ties everyone together is a sense of how much people value the promise of tomorrow. Even though most people saved heirlooms and memorabilia – they mainly brought the things that could seed their futures. Photographers didn’t bring their photos, but instead their cameras to take new pictures. The writer didn’t take her old manuscripts, but instead her laptop to write new stories and as one young woman from Scotland aptly put it: “I wandered around my house, looking at the ornaments and memories that filled it. I collected a few things, even photographed them. But somehow they didn’t seem to fit together. And then I looked down, at my feet, and realized that all I needed or wanted to ‘save’ from the burning house was me.”
As for Huntington – he also has his eye on future’s horizon. The Portland-native who has lived in Maine and more recently New York where he has spent the greater part of this past decade working in fashion – has decided to leave his job and take to the road in a specially outfitted van to embark on his next project: The Restless Transplant.
To partkae in the Burning House Project, which will soon become a book go to www.theburninghouse.com
