Photographs document the life of a hoarder with smiles and sadness

Welcome to George’s world. George Fowler is a compulsive hoarder and over the year that she spent photographing him Corinna Kern came to “understand the human nature that lies behind his unusual condition." Looking at these pictures, you can tell that there’s a closeness between the young woman behind the camera and the old man in front of it.

Dressed in his pinstripe suit lounging on his bed, or nonchalantly smoking a cigarette adopting a pose reminiscent of someone seated outside a French cafe, George is incongruous with his surroundings; poised and elegant amongst seeming disorder and decay. Corinna captures the complexity of his situation with respect and a touch of humour, documenting the nuances and particularities of this life. Corinna was selected by LensCulture as one of their 50 Emerging Talents of 2014 and I’m excited to see more of the stories that this photojournalist has to tell.