idea theft, yet again

back in portland about a year ago, haley, eitan and i were sitting around brainstorming. we started talking about our refrigerators and how we organize them. yes, highly interesting...but actually so!



strangely enough, they put the cheese in the compartment in the door that everyone else (or at least i) use for the butter. their meat/cheese drawer had something weird in it (vegetables?) and everything just seemed mixed up. but they thought i was weird to put eggs and butter in the door and veggies at the bottom!



i decided to start photographing fridges, and took several portraits of friends' over the next few months. eventually i forgot and got lazy....but look what eitan sent me! a show of photos by photographer mark menjivar appropriately entitled "you are what you eat."

used to start dialogues about hunger issues in the us, the photos are basic, stark images of everyday realities. strange how a fridge can say so much about a lifestyle, a personality, a person, without saying a word.

but mark isn't the only one obsessed with fridges. of course, william eggleston did it too:


then there's fridgewatcher.com, various groups of fridge-lovers on flickr,

professionally manicured mtv cribs fridges:


shit, even marilyn manson's into fridges:


my grandma's old, empty fridge:


caitlin's old fridge in portland:


such a common and obvious staple, but the refrigerator plays a huge role in all of our lives. it can comfort, provide solace, or reinforce feelings of inadequacy, issues with food, difficulties with money or even struggles with health and nutrition. for me, there's nothing worse and disappointing than a dirty, empty fridge and nothing better than a fully stocked one (unless you're ocd and you think the fridge is going to fall through the floor if it's full--watch that episode of obsessed on a&e on demand!) whatever it is, your fridge AFFECTS YOU! it READS YOU and BREATHES YOU! love it!

maybe i'll start doing the outside of the fridge............