Bookmarks

Ash 1 – Bookmarks
(from the Ash Series)

These bookmarks form part of Ash 1, one of three canvases in the ash series. Following the fracturing of the original work, the surface was dispersed into over nine hundred small fragments.

Each fragment was mounted onto paper, inscribed on the reverse with a short message, numbered, signed and laminated for preservation. Released into the world rather than confined to a single space, the bookmarks travel quietly — like scattered seeds — extending the work beyond the original canvas.

The gesture re-imagines the seasonality and cyclicality of the planting calendar: dispersal, dormancy, encounter and return. What was once a singular surface continues as distributed trace.

They are left in places for others to find, given away, or carried onward — small fragments of ash and memory moving through quiet acts of exchange.

The above footage documents Ash 1 reassembled before further fragments were released into circulation through private gifting, institutional sharing and future exhibitions.

Above: Ash 1 temporarily reassembled.
Each bookmark is coded according to its original position within the grid:
C1 (Canvas 1), R1–12 (Rows 1–12, laid right to left), and numbered 1/75 from top to bottom within each row.

Below: still images of the bookmarks laid out on the floor following fragmentation.