The final work is a documentation of the effects of a performative process involving multiple replications of the act of making a cast of the artist’s face. Each successive cast is a new mould. Successive moulds were made in one session, one after the other. Despite the same person, the same day and the same way of doing things, each image is different. Allowing for accidental error, fatigue, minor differences, the passage of time – open semantic fissures in the interpretation of ‘Numbness’.
What is important in the presentation is the repetition of the original view, referring back to the initial object and emphasising its tactile aspect, while maintaining another layer of mediation of the image that is photography. The resulting works are made on traditional Japanese paper, its texture reminiscent of the delicate surface of plaster. Each portrait is enclosed in an austere oak frame, behind invisible acrylic, like a fragile, protected object that cannot be reached despite its proximity.