Artifacts of Attention, Grief, and Quiet Presence
The Witnessing Project is a slow-performance art practice and artifact series that explores the emotional and symbolic act of witnessing—of being fully present with what is often overlooked, unspoken, or unseen.
Each piece begins as a moment of quiet attention. A concert. A museum. A protest. A private spiral. A threshold.
The artist writes—longhand, unfiltered—using fountain pens and textured paper. No retakes. No polish. Just ink and presence.
These handwritten pages become the source material that shapes standalone artifacts—often folded, sealed, or partially obscured—preserving the emotional imprint of a moment as it was felt, not just observed.
✦ Format & Materials
- Cotton-based or archival-quality papers
- Fountain pen ink (often water-soluble)
- Smudges, cross-outs, emotional traces left intact
- Occasional overlays with vellum, stitching, wax, or image fragments
- Minimal digital editing; the artifacts are meant to feel human, not processed
Some are mailed. Some are framed. Others remain tucked into envelopes, unopened, as part of the piece.
✦ Origins & Intent
This project began as an act of self-rescue—an attempt to hold sacred space for experiences the world had no rituals for.
Over time, it expanded into a system of care, griefwork, and shared memory. Each piece bears witness, not to a subject, but to an emotional presence. A threshold crossing. A sacred noticing.
✦ Exhibitions & Collaborations
This project is open to:
- Curated exhibits on memory, grief, or ritual
- Site-specific installations
- Collaborative workshops on journaling, storytelling, or emotional witnessing
- Therapeutic or research residencies exploring story and symbolic cognition
Pieces from the Witnessing Project are also archived (in part) within the Living Lore Archive, where fragments may be found, claimed, or echoed.
Every artifact is a mirror. Every mark is a form of care.