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Death of the Desired Object: Waste and Value in the Post-Modern World
In the realm of Continental Philosophy, certain philosophers, such as Roland Barthes and
Jacques Derrida, view photography as inherently linked to death. What do we see in the
photographs of After Before that relates to this conceptualization? We see the death of value. We
see the death of the desired object and the attempt to revive what was lost. The words of Derrida
hold true for After Before: “Whether we are looking at the whole picture or just a detail, never do
any of these photographs fail to signify death. Each signifies a death without saying it.”1 In After
Before, we see the death of that which was once desired, now abandoned and lost as just another
waste product. As described by Roland Barthes, not even the photograph is safe: "The only way I
can transform the photograph is into refuse: either the drawer or the waste basket.”2 It seems that
many objects once valued are subjected to their own limited sense of death, resulting in the
We must ask ourselves: what exactly is waste? It is that which is discarded when it no
longer has apparent value. What the photography of JoAnn Verburg’s After Before shows us is
that we cannot escape from our waste, even if we attempt to hide from it. Most countries in our
modern globalized society have waste because we are all trained and encouraged to be wasteful.
We have been taught to consume to the detriment of our natural environments and the objects
forged therein. There is a question posed by Derrida: “But just who is death?”3 We are death; we
1
Jacques Derrida, Athens, Still Remains, translated by Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas (New York: Fordham
University Press, 2010), 2
2
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Hill &
Wang, 1981), 93.
3
Derrida, 6.
are the death of the object and its value to us. To overcome this death, we must question the
Our modern day estimation of the value of an object can be traced back to a concept
“everything is ordered to stand by, to be immediately at hand… so that it may be on call.”5 With
the concept of “standing-reserve”, the entire world only holds as much value as it is capable of
giving to man in the form of resources, making the environment a means to an end. And,
according to Heidegger, “wherever ends are pursued and means are employed… instrumentality
reigns.”6 The view of instrumentality is that of considering the world solely as it can be used by
Through the lens of standing-reserve and instrumentality, when you desire a thing, you
don't want the thing-in-itself but the perceived value it will bring. The object of desire only
remains desired until the point in which it no longer holds the same perceived value. This value
is only retained until a threshold point is reached, in which the object that was once valued is
now viewed as disposable, a distinction made solely by the individual. The value fades in our
mind first before it affects the object. It is not valueless upon arrival; there comes a point when
the value is gone, that value judgement being established often before the object is even used,
made, or consumed, usually by the encouragement of the wasteful systems of a society. What
must be recognized is that the valued object can remain valued; there is not final expiration date
inherent within a material. Death of value, resulting in waste, is not necessary; even when a
material decays and rots, it does not have to be considered as “waste.” A thing can always be re-
4
Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings, edited by David Farrell Krell (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 322.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid., 313.
evaluated to serve a different purpose than was originally ascribed to its being as an
Waste is the byproduct of the “standing reserve” mentality. These foreign yet man-made
objects, such as the Coca-Cola or Jack Daniels bottles, show how our values corrupt our
environment. However, in Verburg’s own words, the exhibit is "an invitation, not a damning.”7
After Before is simply the artistic result of when "something valuable becomes abandoned.”8 It is
here that the heart of the exhibit lies: what gives something value and what takes it away? What
is the death of value that leads to waste? After Before is a thoughtful consideration of our habits
in modern day society and an understanding of value as it relates to the individual and society as
a whole. What After Before asks us to do is re-evaluate our relationship to the objects we own.
Instead of simply disposing of them, we should instead reconsider our own value structure and
In a way, the exhibit is a recycling, using photography as a means to create new meaning
and purpose for that which no longer serves a function in society. Making use of our objects,
respecting them, and then re-using them in a new way will help solve the problems of waste as it
exists now. We must value recycling, and not simply let our objects die to us and waste away. In
this, we must not simply recycle but re-integrate, the latter being an ideological shift. We must
not simply change our use but change our consideration of the object, as there is more than one
potential use for “waste”. Value must be considered not simply as a physical distinction but as
something beyond what the object has to offer in relationship to us. We must expand our vision;
sustainability, through conscious interaction with objects, must become the new guiding light.
7
JoAnn Verburg, January 31st, 2017.
8
JoAnn Verburg, January 31st, 2017.