Matthew Belanger

The Saddest Thing I Own is a website repository of life's saddest objects. The website provides a place to share a photo and the story of the object you hold onto which makes you most sad. The act of revealing to the world what makes you saddest provides a form of catharsis.

The website was launched in May of 2006, and now holds over 300 submissions. It is a collaboration between Marianne R. Petit, A. Elizabeth Mikesell, and myself, inspired by a conversation we had about our own saddest possessions following the death of my mother in 2005.

Open to submissions from the world at large, some of the saddest things people have submitted include: an engagement ring, the ashes of a firstborn child, and a dog's wheelchair.

The Saddest Thing I Own was a 2005 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site with funding from the Jerome Foundation in celebration of the Jerome Hill Centennial and in recognition of the valuable contributions of artists to society.

See the work at: turbulence.org/works/saddest

Press

Boing Boing | Mark Frauenfelder | Essays and photos: "The Saddest Thing I Own"
Yahoo! Picks | May 8, 2006
Mobuzz.tv | Karina Stenquist