Everitt Clark Photography
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Treasures of the Heart


​These pictures and the words that accompany them tell the story of C, a self-described hoarder who gave me permission to make photographs in and around her home. The title of each picture is something significant C said to me. I made this body of work because I grew up in a house much like hers. I wanted to reveal the startling beauty that hides behind that ugly word, "hoarder".
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When I met her in 2014, C was in her 70's - a grandmother who had outlasted two marriages. She lived alone in a very messy house, surrounded by what she called her "treasures of the heart".

C is an open book. She'll tell you her life story two minutes after you've met her. Her tears flow freely, as do her denunciations of "the banksters" and "that bitch [who] stole my cat". She once told me, with alarming frankness, "I never knew what a boundary was until I was 50 years old." Indeed, I more than once found myself chauffeuring her to and from her daily errands while she made calls on my cell phone.

C's lack of boundaries was also a blessing: she opened her home, and her life, to a stranger with a camera. I have tried to justify her faith in me by telling her story using her own words and things. Every picture contains something that she and I both found striking, precious, or beautiful. Every picture also contains evidence of C's struggle with an ever-rising tide of stuff. The "treasures of the heart" are inextricable from the trash.
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"The door's not locked, so come on in."
"I want a before and after." (Churn Sequence 1-5)
Churn Sequence 1
Churn Sequence 2
Churn Sequence 3
Churn Sequence 4
Churn Sequence 5
"I like it where I can see it."
"Did you get a picture of her yet?"
"America's in a lot of distress. It's going down."
"I never got to play with dolls. Once I grew up, I bought dolls."
"That's my daughter."
"None of the rest of it means anything."
"That bitch stole my cat!"
"I like the clock where I can see it, so I'll know what time it is."
"Something pretty, something nice, something clean."
"If this plant doesn't make it, I won't make it."
"I call this the penthouse. There's a king-size bed in there!"
"When I dance, I forget everything."
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