What exactly are we looking at here?

This is a selection from the hundreds of iPhone images that I have taken of people’s key rings. I started collecting these in 2011 and am still doing so. I call it “Keys in the Song of Life”.

How many hours work does this represent?

It’s a random act of collection 2011 to 2016, and I have never really worked out what my final presentation will be. I might just collect forever. It doesn’t take long either. Although some people fear I might be plotting to burgle their houses so don’t join in. Editing and putting the images together took about seven hours.

What is the initial idea behind it?

Apart from one person (who kept his house key on a single piece of string), I’m fascinated as to how people take a mundane item like this and personalise it. Perhaps without even seeing that they have done so. It’s putting your stamp on, owning this functional item, labelling and categorizing, identifying and bringing together more of the mundane items. A bunch of keys. A rattle of keys. A weight of keys. A sparkle of keys.

What happened before it is finished?

I keep seeing more- I spotted your technician’s keys when we were putting up the Circle exhibition this February and took a photo of those on the floor. It’s the second biggest bunch of keys I have seen so far. This idea and project been a bit dormant recently so I think it’s time to revive it. It’s interesting you see, you just ask everyone to put their key ring on a table and you have the uniqueness laid out before you to capture. I would quite like to explore sound with these images too.

When will you know it is done?

I never will- it’s like a collector you see- I just collect these images. Obsessively. With enjoyment and curiosity.

My photographic work is on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/artcriminal/

My twitter name is @theartcriminal

My webpage is www.artcrimes.org.uk