Nothing is Lost When Nothing is Obtained

Installation consisted of two opposing gallery walls and a central projection slideshow. All of the artist’s material belongings were written on those walls; objects considered to be needs on the left wall and all other belongings on the right wall. The central projection featured a slideshow loop containing snapshot photographs of all recorded belongings in a seemingly random order.

The work seeks to investigate the differences between those objects that we need versus those that we want. By painstakingly cataloging and categorizing all of his own possessions, Galloway explores how items are obtained and what makes these objects personally relevant. Even when using a rather loose definition of the term ‘need’, he finds that those items considered needs are greatly outnumbered by those that are not.

​

What implications does this reality hold for one’s personal life, and what implications does it hold for the environment from which the objects were extracted?