Windowsills: link to blog page

It came from a walk back from the surgery, this observation. Particularly on this walk, I paid more attention to the windows of the terraced houses that I was passing. I usually have a nose, especially around Christmas time, generally comparing decorations. Sometimes, when I was in university I would rearrange my running route so that I passed the ‘nice houses.’ I used to find comfort into looking through peoples’ warmly lit windows as it made my homesickness lessen. But on this day, walking back from the rare doctor’s visit, I was drawn to this one windowsill in particular. I remember a photo frame at each corner, an ornament in the centre, then a dummy and a toothbrush positioned at random between these, what seemed, more permanent markers. I shared this observation with friends, while asking them to send me images of their windowsills, out of curiosity. One friend came back commenting on people that hang their curtains in a way so that people from outside see something more glamorous, while the home owner sees the less glamorous lining.

The window glazing is often the only distance that differentiates home owner and passer-by; the private possession and the shared possession; a display; a set; or merely a shelf. This sill is an in-between state. The awkward gap between the outside world and ‘behind closed doors.’ The way in which people treat this fitting is what interests me. I am curious about the behaviours around and treatments of these nonchalant fixtures. The statements these shelves make about the people they belong to. How they are sometimes decorated to be appreciated by only postmen, sometimes never in view of the inhabitant, sometimes in constant view of pedestrians.

I am welcoming photographs of your windowsills. Preferably untouched, true photographs of their actual state- Don’t tidy or rearrange! I prefer windowsills that have potential to be viewed by an outsider. These photographs, I hope, will be taken from outside of your property. Please do not take photographs of any other property without permission, only yours.  You can send your images to clairelouiseprosser@outlook.com with the subject: Windowsill.