Trash is Treasure? : A Junior Narrative Diptych by Hannah Hansen (2012)

For my narrative diptych, I decided to tell the story of a woman who has a hoarding problem. As her collection of items grows, the absurdity of her problem becomes clearer. To show this problem I first focused on the emotional feelings behind her hoarding, picturing a birds nest holding various shiny objects that in reality hold no value. This image represents the constant protection the hoarder provides for her addiction, protecting even the most useless of objects. The next image illustrates the ridiculous reality of her problem by showing a painted and decorated trashcan in the middle of her house.This picture reveals the warped sense of reality that the woman experiences as she continues her addition in hoarding. The trashcan has been disguised to look like something beautiful, and even though it is decorated and ''pretty,'' the trashcan still holds garbage. Just like her hoarding problem, the things she buys that seem beautiful to her are actually garbage and are taking over the sanity of the house. Together these images complete the story of a woman internally struggling with the idea that her objects are treasures in need of protection and externally not recognizing the effect and truth of her addiction.