Monthly Statement:
November 2005
During the 1st week of November a copy of the Minute Entry, the Pima County Superior Courthouse internal newsletter, arrived in the mail. My October visit to the Courthouse made page 2! The article was listed in the table of contents as “Dust Bunnies.”

Obtaining dust this month was more of a struggle than I had planned. My first two attempts failed, one being a lack of obtaining access to a site and the other by not being able to locate any dust at a site that would be useful for me.

The first site I did gather dust was from PDQ Records and Tapes, a physically and impressively large music store in Tucson. This is one of those legendary music stores that has what seems to be miles of vinyl and cassette tapes ready for resurrection by a nostalgic adult, a curious teenager, or a serious DJ. Gathering dust from PDQ proved to be tragic. I have to admit, the dust bunny from PDQ is “back-up” dust I already had before the month of November. I never documented the site after subversively obtaining the dust at the time (a couple months back) so I felt this dust could still be used for the project considering the trouble I was having. What is tragic about this dust is that upon returning to the record store to document it I quickly realized that a new owner had taken control of the place and re-named it “Judy’s Music Stop.” The building and awning were new colors and the once maze of an entrance was now spacious and navigable. As I began to make my way to the sections where I had collected the dust amongst the gospels, Soviet operas, old country and racy international LP covers, I realized that entire area of the store had been sealed off. No entry. The site was gone. I exited the store in a daze and walked around the building to discover that Judy is an enterprising multi-tasker and had transformed that section of the building into “Judy’s Consign and Design.” I thought a photograph of the new sign would be appropriate as what once was is no longer and now this little dust clump is as nostalgic as the sounds of all those records that have disappeared.

The second site was an “official” cleaning of my brother-in-law’s house in Minneapolis. We traveled there for Thanksgiving and naturally the house had been thoroughly cleaned as expected when one hosts such an event. My brother-in-law’s 30th birthday happens to be two days after turkey day and I thought obtaining dust from a very, very clean site would not only be a challenge, but doing so on such a monumental birthday I thought that I might just cleanse the house of any remnants of their twenties once and for all. His wife has past that after my cleaning the house should be all set for middle age. After much searching, the only dust I could locate was tangled in and around the electrical cords behind the TV. I didn’t find much, but to my surprise, this twenty-something dust smelled of Premium Grain Belt and had the disorganized look of an unbalanced checkbook.

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