25 March 2010
I made a photo book 'Reasons to Travel' on the website called blurb.
It's a website that you can upload your images to make a book, and then they will deliver to your place.
'Reasons to Travel' is a book including images and text, exploring the concept of travel and home.
After 2 weeks waiting, I finally received the books, and I opened the parcel immediately.
However, in the parcel, it's not my book, instead, it's a book made by somebody else, which is a family album.
It's a family of 4 members, mom, dad, a little daughter who looks like about 4 years old with a baby boy.
Most of the pictures inside are about the two kids, sometimes includes their grand parents as well.
Just like a normal family album, they are laughing, having fun...
I waited two weeks to open the book, because I found it too personal.
I didn't dare to see that. It's like peeping into someone else's life.
And I didn't read it second time...
I was checking my mail box when I came back from work.
I found an brown envelope which is not belong to me.
Wrong name and wrong address. (it's not even similar.)
Obviously, the post man put into a wrong mail box.
It never happened to me before, so I didn't know how to deal with that.
I brought it home, thinking that should I just put it into a post box again, or I have to bring it back to the post office.
I met my flat mate, and I told him what I found in our mail box.
He asked, 'Can we open it?'
I said, 'No, I don't think so, it's not our stuff'
Anyway, in the end, he still opened it, and it's a bag a drug, Meow Meow (similar to ecstasy), which shouldn't belong to me.
Some one, who can not be named, spent some money to try to have some fun, but I, or my flatmate, kind of ruined his/her plan...
Have you ever met a false/accidental encounter before? Have you ever get into someone else's life by accident? Or you have received or got something should not belong to you by any chance?
It doesn't have to be an accident through the mail system. It could be an object left in the vintage purse you bought, or a letter in the book you borrowed from a library. The romantic encounter happens in our everyday life. And the project is collecting the stories of this kind of encounters, exploring how we enter other's life by mistake. If anything like that have ever happened to you before, please e-mail me ting@chengtingting.com tells me the story of it, with the picture of the object.
'False/Accidental Encounter' will be featured in the exhibition Open Flat Project in London.
The selected object/story will be mentioned in the exhibition, and receive the book 'False Accidental Encounter'.
Thank you very much :)
Looking forward to hearing from you
Ting
www.chengtingting.com
