Ritual
- Art Direction
- Bookmaking
- Image Treatment
Ritual explores the quiet, meditative experience of applying and removing makeup each day. Using close-up photographs of my own morning and evening routines, the book transforms an ordinary act of self-care into a study of repetition, attention, reflection, and time.
The accordion structure allows these individual moments to unfold across a continuous surface. Rather than experiencing the routine as a series of isolated pages, the viewer can see its progression as an extended passage of time, mirroring the way repetition allows moments of thought and daydreaming to accumulate.
Photography by Levin Garson.
Morning
The morning sequence follows the gradual process of preparing for the day, beginning with the moment I sit down at my desk and moving closely across each feature of my face. The photographs isolate these small actions, slowing down a familiar routine and emphasizing the care involved in attending to each part of the process.
Between the photographs, vivid abstract forms interrupt the sequence as visualizations of daydreaming and reflection. These moments represent the mental space that opens up during repetition: a period to think through the previous week, anticipate the day ahead, and temporarily move outside the immediate task.
Evening
The evening sequence revisits the same ritual from a different perspective. The photography becomes less saturated as the day comes to a close, while tactile, dirty forms interrupt the images to reflect the physical process of removing what has accumulated throughout the day.
The book concludes with personal writing about the thoughts that emerge during this final part of the routine. Where the morning prepares me to move forward into the day, the evening creates a space to process what has passed and return to myself before beginning again.
