End of Aesthetics

It’s 2024 and I’ve come to a realisation. There’s so much stuff in our lives. I’m not talking about coveted design icons here. I’m talking about badly designed, poor quality, environmentally unfriendly stuff. Bric-a-brac. Bits and bobs. Junk. Maybe I’m late to the party and many of us feel this way. It’s too late to do anything about it now though, it’s all here to stay: in charity shops and vintage shops; car boot sales and house clearances; at the back of your rented house’s kitchen cupboards; that thing from your bedroom you’ve had since you were a student; the pot you keep your pens in; half the cutlery in your cutlery drawer. Louise Hagger and Alexander Breeze explores what it is to be left with these mini monuments which are, at best, wryly kitsch, or, more often than not, the unwanted detritus that populates modern life. A cast of thousands of extras forming the background noise to our everyday lives, the things that we’ll change when we can find something better. Photography @louisehagger (assisted by @sam.peter.reeves ), prop styling @alexanderbreeze.

Image captions: 

• Sue fell in love with that panda in a car boot sale in Enfield. “I just can never find the perfect place for it.”
• “Soup on Mondays. Always Heinz tomato. It just tastes better.”
• “I’ve always liked pink.”
• “These things moved back home with me after uni. That was 17 years ago.”
• “I collected 5 coupons to get this spoon rest. Makes me smile every time I make a cuppa.”
• “Everything here cost less than a pound. I love a splurge on a weekend.”