Midtown Debris Organization


daniel johnson and Travis Pinkston both shared a fascination with debris and a desire to collaborate. When johnson found an opportunity to occupy a small broken down building with running water and no electricity in a neighborhood he had been working in, the Midtown Debris Organization was born.


two collectors friend of the MDO Jayson Porter stopped by often white board to update guests on where they could join us collecting old canvas mail bags made great collecting bags for johnson and participants our best light hits the sorting bay where collected items are processed into the collection a visitor muses a Creativity Saturday project artist Wendy Eddleman gathered a monochromatic set of things thick papers set johnson and his son Vesper musician Evan Gallagher studying the collection sets and sets of tiny pieces there were about 55 different categories which changed and shifted according to participants mowed the grass and a new paint job on this forgotten building Vesper at his work station that bottom of the bag sorting was tedious


Part meditation - part relationship-building, the MDO was founded on the premise that to get to know a neighborhood better, there is value in gathering and sorting the debris found along its pathways. johnson and Pinkston became caretakers of this growing collection as neighbors would stop by and share stories invoked by the sight of familiar items once discarded. Over time the two added Creativity Saturdays to upcycle the collection into sculptures.

daniel@significantdevelopments.us — Jackson, Mississippi
Running on Cargo