coloured cardboard, 80×59 cm
2020

The composition is based on the memory of a book. The book, which I believe was about a group of Disney characters searching for pirate treasure in a cave, had an unusual shape – the pages were cut through with irregular holes. From the first spread it was possible to see a glimpse of the last page.

During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, I experienced much more often than before that something I saw or experienced during the day suddenly made me remember the dreams of the night. Working from home for long periods of time made the days of the week blur. Remote places were physically absent but present through representation. Reality appeared increasingly vicarious. The year was a vicarious year. Mental space became more permeable, more open, and spilled over onto the physical. This open mind can also be receptive – like a radio telescope, or a bacterial culture.

The images display their creation – they represent nothing but themselves. On one hand. The soot edges are the tangible results of a balancing act with the material and the method. Fire moves so fast. There is both a tingly joy and a worry about constantly risking completely losing control of the process. On the other hand, depth and scale, the format itself, can suggest images of mountain ranges, a cave, an open pit, cut through layers of a porous reality.

The fragile material is flaking.