(2002/2022)

Archival pigment print (8x10 in/200x255cm ), 47x35.5 in/900x1200mm)

‘The vision of the universe is slippery and full of transformative potential. Not fixed, not settled, uncertain, indefinite. It means that you don’t know where you are. Open up to the unpredictable and make your own choice.’ (Zen Buddhism by Suzuki)

The Poetics of Toilet Paper is a reflection on long memory and cycles of change. Returning to archival work with new eyes, a mass-produced object is now tenderly examined for its unassuming poeticism and ephemeral form. Time changes everything — warping memories, leaving unexpected details, and transforming forgotten objects.

At the beginning of the pandemic I started to look at a set of large-format negatives I shot in 2002 – images displaying a range of toilet paper with all their intricate details and patterns. Initially I planned to refine and edit the images in the darkroom.

Today The Poetics of Toilet Paper series has a totally new meaning, highlighting human fragility and their behaviour and the elevation of something so mundane into a typology of dainty objects. I decided to show the images in their raw and imperfect stage - a beautiful, poetic ode of being human and our times.