Ephemera Project

Ephemera- things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time.

Following a trip to the natural history museum we were tasked with drawing in charcoal from a picture we took on a large piece of paper as a class. When we finished the drawing we where told to rub it out and then move to another spot and draw from another picture that we had taken. We where then allowed to take any part of the drawing that we wanted to develop our selves. The idea behind the rubbing out was that a part of the drawing was still there like fossils in the museum but not the whole thing. This would then become the platform of a new drawing or new life. The remaining part of the drawing was torn up, some was burnt, shown in the series of photos bellow and the rest we made into paper.

Here we can see the burning of the paper, the paper is a fuel for the fire a release of energy; heat, light and sound and the paper is transformed into ash. To me this is symbolic of life, death being just a human word for a transformation, a transition into something else. For instance the paper has become ash, but the ash could be drawn with it has transformed from the platform to the drawing tool.