Monthly Statement:
June 2006
During the early part of June I was still traveling in Europe and was able to gather dust bunnies at two significant sites in Italy.

The first dust bunny was carefully collected from the ledges of various columns within the Pantheon in Rome. Old, old dust. The Pantheon is an incredible space with a mesmerizing oculus and is said to be the most well preserved building from antiquity in Italy. Apparently, the proportions of the dome and interior are so exact it is said that a perfect sphere would fit inside the space perfectly and I believe it has been continuously used as a place of worship since the 2nd century. The dust I gathered was found in corners where the base of columns met the walls and I was surprised by it’s fluffy consistency as well as its general abundance throughout the space. I also managed to pick up a little piece of mortar as my hands swept along the ledges. This dust is old, old, old and surely contains bits of human faith and modern tourism, pieces of lint cast off robes and khaki shorts, sandaled feet shuffling and eclipsing the spot lit marble floor, specks hovering below the white noise of tour groups.

The second dust bunny was gathered in the nooks and crannies of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The line to enter moved very quickly and I soon found myself drifting amongst a variety of tour groups all of which had made a hard right to view Michelangelo’s Pieta. Once I made it through the crowd, little dust clumps began to randomly reveal themselves. I was slower to gather a sizable clump as St. Peter’s seemed “dusted” in places I’ve learned to look. Most of the dust I found came from the bronze or marble ledges of the tombs of various Popes from history. Navigating people with headphones and cameras was a constant activity that I began to loathe. There is a lot of hair in the jagged shaped dust assembled from St. Peter’ and it includes a little white feather which shares a startling close resemblance to the iconic bird depictions feathered around the basilica. The last time a white feather turned up in a dust bunny I gathered came from the San Xavier Mission in the first month of the Accumulation Project.

I’ve also included a “cloud” image from the Pantheon book.  

Process: I plan to acquire dust in two ways. Initially, I will ask for permission to sweep a chosen site and document the process. If permission is not granted or if I find myself in a place that seems to be an interesting opportunity for gathering dust, I will then obtain my accumulate in a covert fashion. This means I will inconspicuously search for dust clumps on the spot and document the site, rather than the process.

I will be gathering dust from two different places a month as my contribution to the Accumulation Project. From each bag of dust I obtain I’ll manipulate the dust bunny into different shapes and make a series of photograms on cyanotype paper. As the dust bunny assumes this new pictorial form, it takes of the appearance of a cloud in a deep blue sky and subtly forms a connection between a nuisance remainder of human existence and the ephemeral behavior of the weather overhead. Each series of “clouds” will be placed into a book that I’ve assembled specifically for that place.

Contact: sekondsight@yahoo.com