Studies in Rigidity


“Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. It is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change. Nothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly perfect; part of it is decaying, part of it is nascent.” - John Ruksin, 1853

Photographic print, 2021

This series of photographs was taken on-site at Batalha Monastery in Portugal. The photographs depict sections of the monastery that have undergone restoration work on the stone. The colors used for the frames were sampled from the various shades of stonework that represent the restoration done during different time periods. This brings the modernist principles of color abstraction into dialogue with Gothic naturalism and ornamentation.