Sometimes life presents something unexpected, like a small gift fully wrapped with a bow on top.
I entered the collector’s world of Andrea M. Noel after a friend thought I might be interested in photographing her collections.
After approaching her about examining her assortments photographically, she presented me with a list of over sixty categories of ordinary objects, ranging from kitchen utensils to bedpans and urinals—an eclectic array of items Andrea has spent years gathering from various locations, including Paris, New York, Atlanta, and her small hometown in southern Georgia. When I approached her beautiful home, with its wraparound porch festooned with wisteria, I still had no idea what lay within.
I soon realized that the items were quite different from what most collectors typically seek to curate, and that distinction immediately piqued my interest. The relationship between a collector and their treasures is a fascinating place to dwell. As Andrea states, “Collectors are born, not made.” The urge to collect is a powerful instinct.
What began as a project documenting a series of collections transformed into a seven-year photographic journey that reveals discarded objects beautifully arranged in artful designs. I often look at some of the objects and think, “I remember my mother or grandmother using that, or having one of those.” And although the subject matter is not my own, the experience of working with these collections has been transformative, allowing me to reframe the ordinary as extraordinary. Andrea’s collections form an archive of what came before, reborn as an entertaining, ever-changing story. It is an intriguing narrative to explore, because who doesn’t collect something? Collecting can contribute to a person’s sense of identity and self-expression, and there is always the thrill of the hunt.
About Dale Niles
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Niles spent her formative years living with her family in small Southern towns across Virginia and North Carolina. Shaped by this upbringing, she developed deep Southern roots that strongly inform her photographic practice and approach to visual storytelling. She is drawn to the diversity of the human spirit, valuing the qualities that make individuals uniquely themselves while recognizing the connections that bind people together.
Niles majored in sociology at Lenoir–Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. While exploring professional opportunities in her field of study, she continued to pursue her artistic interests and ultimately discovered that photography was her true passion. The medium offers her broad creative freedom in terms of technique, subject matter, and process. Her work has been exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions across the United States, Canada, Paris, France, and Venice, Italy. Her prints are held in numerous private collections, as well as in institutional collections including MOCA GA and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana. A selection of her work is also exhibited at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. She has been selected twice for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 200, Ones to Watch Atlanta, The Fence at Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport, and she received the Virginia Twinam Purchase Award.
Her work has been featured in publications such as Light and Shadow Magazine, SouthxSoutheast Magazine, Shots, All About Photo, Lenscratch, The HAND Magazine, and Oxford American.
Her series What Lies Within was published as a 150-page full-color book and has received significant recognition, including praise from Elizabeth Avedon as one of the best photography books of 2021. It was included in the 13th Annual Self-Published Photo Book Show presented by the Davis Orton Gallery and the Griffin Museum of Photography, won First Place and Gold Winner at the Tokyo International Foto Awards, received a Bronze Award at the Budapest International Foto Awards 2022, and a Gold Winner award at PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris 2023. [Official Website]
