Hadad-final

     I am making a mass amounts of small sculptures out of archival paper. The idea is to raise recognition of paper culture. Also written language, it's transmission/dissemination and interpretation. I began this process using the cotton paper for blank books. In the process I realized how unidentifiable our society has become with books.

1.

Throughout my research I have come across missing/ lost archives. As a response I couldnt help but imagine all the history silenced by the ocean waters. Ive shredded a mass amount of  long 30 inch sheets and placed into a water tank. The blue light highlights the top shedding light on the constant search of what was lost. 

2. 

 My project began with the use blank archival paper. I began my experimentation with slip casting. Throughout my research I came across cuneiform tablets. These tablets were usually left unfired for reuse. Alternatively, I put more then half (about 100 2.5x10”) of the slip casted sheets in the kiln which ended made the material turn to ash and take form of the page. The result was shocking. I opened the kiln 24 hours later and 2 months of slip casting a hundred sheets was all broken and crumbled on the shelves. There it was I had to reconsider what I was doing. I couldn’t waste another minute on a failed approach to a successful sculpture. I always wonder why my work always had to be so fragile! Unfortunately, the moment I try to pick up the sheets in the kiln they shattered to pieces and left dust from the paper in between the slip was left behind. So, like the reuse of the tablets I have slip casted a couple hundred more sheets, leaving them unfired. I then experimented with new archival sheets of paper, emerging them in boiling wax. I have decided to display all these many sheets of paper on wooden dowels hung by clear string. The installation is displayed as a form of archive. Book/Substrate becomes language as opposed to holding language

3.Along with the dowel installation I made this piece directly discussing the use of wax throughout history. Wax was used as a sealant to keep moisture out. It was also used as recyclable tablet since whatever was carved on wax model can be simply smudged off and reused. Palimpsest.