Photographer Andrew Ward became fascinated with the phenomena of abandoned couches on city streets. He is a native of Dublin, but moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. Abandoned furniture on the street is rare in Ireland, so he began photographing the couches. Ward's photographs of sofas grew into a series, and now fill the Tumblr blog The Sofas of L.A. Ward says,
"So you have this community of people that are somewhat what I consider temporary residents here," Ward says. "They're coming here because they thought it would bring them something greater in the short term, or perhaps migrant families that are being evicted and you have to bring all of your possessions with you, so there's that element."
And then there's the other element. The couches are an ugly symbol of how we're becoming, more and more, a disposable society.
"We buy something one day that then next thing is no longer in vogue and gets thrown out on the sidewalk as trash."
But they're more than just trash, Ward says. Each couch tells a story, and is as culturally relevant as a statue.
So far, Ward has photographed 600 or so couches, and after each shot, he reports their location for the city to pick up. Read about the artist, and see a lot of couches at The Sofas of L.A. -via Metafilter