Artist Statement

I created this series because for me, I am a very nostalgic person. I am not a very materialistic person but things have a lot of meaning to me. Maybe not everyone has something that meant a lot to them, but I am certain that everyone has had a toy that has had meaning to them. I simply just started to leave this one toy all around the house then in random places outside. The best ones that came out from my two series of photos were the ones that captured more emptiness. They captured more of being left behind or forgotten. Some images felt more messy and had a lot to take in. The stronger ones that I took were actually very simple. The toy I use doesn’t really have any attachment to me other than it was a simple gift from a good friend. The places that I put the toy are not as random as they may seem. They are more places that I felt would fit best in each scene. Each picture that I took was in a different spot or angle. I wasn’t going to know what scene was stronger than the other because any angle could have had a stronger effect on anyone that was viewing it than the other.  I think that my topic was different and more interesting from other people’s work because it isn’t really something you see everyday. Some other people were doing some things that we see, maybe not on the daily but more than my topic. I just believe mine stands out more. I was very influenced by Toy Story and a specific part of the film where Woody feels left behind from Andy, because he now has Buzz and no longer needs him. I think it was just an interesting topic to focus on and it is something a lot of people can be interested in. I was hoping to create this field where there were more random places a toy could be lost or something that was left behind but that meant something to someone. Like how a toy on the floor in a busy area can show how a little girl had dropped it. They would simply see a toy on the floor and how it was left. It could be a toy left on the street where a child had left the toy behind and wasn’t able to retrieve it because the child was leaving somewhere.