Caroline de Otero

Hartford, Connecticut, known as the « world capital of insurance companies », has many different areas, rich and poor. On the south side, in the Puerto Rican and Italian neighbourhoods, I discovered a new kind of urban furniture : the sofa.

Unusual... Surrealistic…! More or less damaged sofas adorned the lawns and sidewalks in front of the houses. Custom or garbage ? Decoration or invitation ?

 

These furnishings are thrown into the street, seemingly useless. They are pieces of interiors left on the sidewalk. For what  purpose, and for whom ? Are they an invitation to stop, sit, to take a break from this life that goes too fast, to rest for a moment and learn how to see the outside differently ? Like a moment of repose outside the safety of the home, one discovers a new perspective of the street, the world, without escaping too far…

 

For three weeks I was walking the streets in search of new sofas, and one morning the garbage men had emptied the sidewalks, restoring once again the front gardens to their houses.