Karin Schipper

refuse bag and broom

This photo serie is made by accident on the streets of Istanbul. In fall 2010 I was part of a group of artist who where invited to make an exhibition at the Art Pie Istanbul. Art Pie was part of the big Tuyap Art Fair.

During our stay in Istanbul -for two weeks- we’ve let the city inspire us for our next exhibition in Stedelijk Museum ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL). This exhibition took place in spring 2011. I’ve exhibited this photo serie as a slideshow on a large size digital photo frame.

In Istanbul I’ve passed by this amazing colourful broom. Because I didn’t need a broom, it didn’t fit in my suitcase, and I didn’t know what to do with it I left the broom in the shop. In a supermarket I’ve found a role of yellow refuse bags. For some years I collect all colours of refuse bags (every country have their own colours) so these fit in my collection. In a print shop I’ve found a package of pink paper, I wanted to cover the streets with coloured paper, so I bought a colour I liked. The pink sidewalk didn’t make any sense. To clean this street experiment I threw my pink paper into the yellow refuse bag. I loved the mixing of the colours yellow and pink. I decided to walk around with my yellow-pink refuse bag. When I walked by the broom shop I saw the yellow-pink refuse bag matched the broom. I decided to buy the broom and walk around Istanbul. Every time I saw something I wanted to photograph I had to lay down my bag and broom. Because I didn’t think about how to place my bag and broom on the street I saw by accident how nice the couple fitted on the streets. Walking further and further I saw perfect ‘street scenario’s’ where the bag and broom became characters. The second day I photographed all ‘familiy’ brooms I saw on the streets.

2010