Held by Dust and Distance (ongoing)

I may have been drawn to making the overlooked the main subject of my photography for quite some time, but nothing captures the imagination quite like the abandoned. These objects were once intentionally built, bought, used, and relied upon. They were part of someone’s livelihood, or even the backbone of a purpose. Now, they exist in a state of quiet transition, slowly exposed, eroded, and reclaimed by nature.

What were they like when they were still valued?
Who used them?
For how long?
How long have they been sitting there slowly breaking down?
How did they even end up here?

Decaying objects can also be symbols of the collapse of our own illusion of permanence. We often build to last, thinking that we can defy time. Yet, these objects show us that our control over the world is merely a temporary lease. They will eventually be reclaimed by the persistent clock of nature.

In this transition, a strange, post-human aesthetic emerges. These objects are liberated, freed from the burden of being useful. They cease to be tools and begin to exist as accidental sculptures.

This series also acts as a mirror of the self, as the abandoned things around us sometimes trigger our own fear of obsolescence and abandonment. But just like those objects, why shouldn’t we view our own presence and legacies as monuments? With all its merits as well as its insignificance, held in place by nothing more than the dust of the past and the distance of time.

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