You Linger In Things

A personal project reflecting on grief, memory and presence through objects left by the artist’s father. Structured in three phases, the book combines photographs, performative compositions and a hidden poetic text revealed while turning pages.

You linger in things is a personal photographic project that emerged after the death of my father. Through working with the objects he left behind – mostly tools he used in his daily practice – I searched for a way to grasp a relationship that had physically ended, but in many ways still lingers.

The project unfolds in three phases (photographic series) – intuitive, meditative, and transformative. I began by documenting his cabin as he left it. Then I systematically catalogued 227 objects from his workshop. Finally, I created performative self-portrait compositions using the most personal items, seeking my own gesture and a transformation of our relationship.

The book includes a poetic letter I wrote during the process. It is divided into verses and hidden beneath the self-portraits, gradually revealed as the viewer flips the pages, adding an intimate layer. This text also determines the rhythm and sequencing of the catalogued objects — each section corresponds to one verse. To construct this structure, I identified six recurring visual forms among the object photographs (line, cylinder, box, circle, rectangle, curve), assigned them symbolic meanings, and used them to reflect the rhythm of the text.

The book works with variable page formats and a tactile rhythm of flipping. It creates space for slowing down, for surprise, and for layered perception of memory and loss.
This project affirmed that creation can be a way to move through grief while remaining in dialogue. Objects become carriers of presence. And through them, a person can linger.