STORIES OF FALLING OBJECTS

This is a thread of research focused on the traces of movement created by balancing an object while holding a pen (or charcoal, ink, or any other medium that leaves a trace) against a canvas on the floor. Over the past few years, I have delved deeply into object balancing, and this research has led me to discover this technique. I am currently exploring balancing various objects that create different types of movement traces, such as very light objects like feathers and very heavy objects like steel or lead poles.

Balancing an object, or balancing oneself, is an act of movement. There will never be a point of stillness because we are organic beings, and as long as we draw air into our lungs and our hearts continue to beat, we cannot be still. Balancing two inanimate objects, such as stones, on top of each other may achieve stillness, but we—considering all the poetic and tragic implications—simply cannot.

However, to embrace this is to allow these traces to happen without trying to impose a certain form, shape, or meaning upon them. The object is in a constant state of falling, and I am in a constant state of catching it. While I can give direction to the falling object, the movement remains chaotic, erratic, and beautifully disobedient.