First I was afraid, I was petrified
Harland Miller (2000)
‘It took me a few moments to understand what it was I was actually seeing. The anticipated images of soft porn that had floated before my eyes dissolved against some domestic abstraction, which resolved into a close up of a… yes… gas cooker’
First I was afraid, I was petrified consists of a huge collection of Polaroids, discovered by Harland Miller, each of which show a gas cooker turned to ‘off’ − the only physical/visual proof that can allow the sufferer of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to be free to leave the house without nagging doubt. This book reveals a fascinating and wryly humorous story of someone that has suffered from an acute case of OCD − never able to leave the house without going back to check and double-check that nothing has been left on. If you have ever had that sinking feeling that you’ve left the front door wide open, the gas fire on, the bath taps running… then you will find this book compulsive reading.
