Recently I have been working on a project which takes its inspiration from Operation Mincemeat - an espionage operation from WW2. There were four stages to this operation: locating a corpse, creating a new identity, making fake invasion plans and finally, floating the body off the Spanish coast.
I found the manner in which the British created a fake identity was fascinating - particularly the way that they used pocket litter to insinuate aspects of their man’s character. Pocket litter is anything found in a person’s pockets - such as spent tickets, receipts, letters, photographs and other such scraps. This project takes an anthropological look at what we each carry around on our person - and in turn, what this may represent for our character.
When the viewer looks at the project, I want them to question their preconceptions of what someone might have in their pockets when they leave their home. How this relates their place in society as well as common threads across all class, wealth, geography and age groups. What separates us from others as well as the items signifying ones the connection to certain groups.
