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Our own junk drawers are not so compelling. But being able to snoop around in other people’s? Now that could be interesting.
A photo book called Junk all about Portlanders’ junk drawers is now available in a few local stores and for order online (blahblahblah.love, $49). Michael Apruzzese’s 192-page book is billed as “a collection of intimate, private, useless and forgotten treasures”—all pulled from Portlanders’ junk drawers.
“Every single person’s drawer is different, and not just by a little bit. It’s, like, significantly different,” Apruzzese told WW this spring (“One Man’s Trash,” WW, May 27).
There are some themes, though. The most common items in Portland junk drawers is a tie between batteries and tape, Apruzzese says. Third place is a tie between ant traps and drugs. Junk drawers are typically in kitchens or near the entrance of a home, but sometimes can be in a nightstand or a cabinet.
During the process of photographing more than 200 junk drawers around town, Apruzzese learned that they are perhaps the great equalizer among the classes: Even the fanciest houses have junk drawers, and the stuff in them is not necessarily more high end than in more humble abodes.
Apruzzese started his own company called Blah Blah Blah I Love You Anyway Publishing to produce Junk in hard copy. It’s been rewarding to be able to hold the product of the yearlong project in his hands, and have readers ask him to sign it.
So far, Junk is carried by about 10 stores in town, including Music Millennium, Vivienne Culinary Books, and Secret Room print shop and retail store. The first run of 250 copies is about half sold out, Apruzzese says.
Since starting Blah Blah Blah I Love You Anyway Publishing, a few artists have reached out to Apruzzese to publish their photo projects. He’s considering one on rural mailboxes and another related to fashion. (Junk was inspired by Found magazine from the early ’00s, which showed people’s lost notes, receipts, shopping lists and photos.)
Up next for Apruzzese? “I’m exploring people’s fridges.”
READ: Junk by Michael Apruzzese via Blah Blah Blah I Love You Anyway Publishing, blahblahblah.love. $49.
