Willard Suitcases Update
Since Hunter’s “Collector’s Weekly” interview with me came out earlier this week, a lot of attention has been drawn to the suitcases project. He did such a great job capturing my voice and I am really grateful for his interest. It has suddenly opened up some very interesting new doors, and has driven a ton of traffic to this blog. Occasionally when people come here expecting to see suitcase photos, they see my other posts and get confused. It has been intentional on my part to mix up the suitcase updates with my other stuff because I want visitors to get an idea of who I am as a person and a photographer. But when someone comes here looking for Willard suitcases and sees a picture of my dog in the back of the car, they might be thinking something along the lines of WTF (as the kids say). I have been giving this a good think, and here’s my solution. I still want everyone to see everything, but to make it easier on people I will link to some of the earlier updates. So here we go: Dmytre, Frank, Flora, and some earlier ones: Charles, and the first one I ever shot which explains the genesis of the project, Frieda. For those of you new visitors who are adventurous and have some time on your hands, just click on the archive links to the right and wander around a bit.
I have received so many notes from people saying that they came to this site to look at the suitcases but were excited by what else they saw. And I want to thank you all for being interested in my work and my life.
Here’s a link that my friend Tom Bollier sent to me earlier today when it popped up on his Google reader. I had no idea that this was being done, but she did a nice job. More news to come soon, I hope.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
Where do I go to buy a print, signed by you?
[…] dólares, unos 14.000 euros, para fotografiar todas las maletas y su contenido. Tal como explica en su blog, Crispin quiere terminar de abrir la ventana que nos permita contemplar la vida de 400 personas que […]
I think this is an incredible project. I have all sorts of feelings I can’t begin to describe just looking at the photos. Kudos to you for giving these people a voice—otherwise they would disappear without ever being remembered again.
Marcy. Thanks for your comment. It means so much to me to hear from people who get what I am trying to say.
You’re so welcome! Looking at the photos gave me the same eerie feeling I get from looking at the Holocaust victims’ suitcases. Such personal items….I noticed that two of the women had terrier statues—one had 2 Westies and one had a Scottie. I have a Westie so I was really drawn to those. They were real people.
[…] dólares, unos 14.000 euros, para fotografiar todas las maletas y su contenido. Tal como explica en su blog, Crispin quiere terminar de abrir la ventana que nos permita contemplar la vida de 400 personas que […]
[…] was at Yale in November speaking to Jessica Helfand’s class about the suitcase project. I had done it last year and it was a great experience again this time. At lunch Jessica […]
Looking at these photos touched me in many ways. I have a relative that was recently diagnosed with several mental disorders. It saddens me to think that not so very long ago he would have been locked away instead of being able to have medication and therapy to control his symptoms. Thanks to the progress we have made he is able to hold a job and be a productive member of society.
[…] dólares, unos 14.000 euros, para fotografiar todas las maletas y su contenido. Tal como explica en su blog, Crispin quiere terminar de abrir la ventana que nos permita contemplar la vida de 400 personas que […]