Today and Every Day

Today (and every day till then) is a watermark in handmade paper. This piece began as a photograph of my coffee mug's shadow. As a watermark the image becomes exaggeratedly latent because it can only be seen when illuminated from behind. I emphasize the corporeality of the object, through the addition of a coffee ring imposed on the watermark.

Then (39°18'32.45"N, 76°37'18.87"W) is more removed from the strictly corporeal, focusing instead on the movement of the cosmos and considering our small actions as humans in contrast with larger astronomical movements. The piece is chalk dust on a slate blackboard. It represents the alignment of stars when considered from the vantage point of a specific geographic location at the moment of my projected death, based on numerous online life expectancy calculators. In thinking about the movement of the stars over the course of a lifetime, one is at once made to feel the comparative brevity and impermanence of human life, and also the cyclic endurance of the natural world.