I created this work because I was interested in how displacing the typical collection of physical artefacts with intangible things would alter the view of the collection as well as the view of the collector if, as Werner Muensterberger asserts, one’s collection is a reflection of oneself.

I wanted to convey the ideas of taking ownership of transience in line with the human desire to possess things- taking ownership firstly by photographing the clouds/ripples/flight in the first place, objectifying them, then exerting further control by placing them into a formal collection- making the intangible tangible. I feel that the contrast of the fleeting formless things I photographed and the desire to live forever via collecting made for an intriguing paradox, as the clouds, ripples and the act of flight illustrate brevity if anything- so putting them into a formal collection alludes to a fruitless, incompletable task, a sort of hopelessness.

Regarding the importance a traditional collection places on physical objects, I feel that my collection of non-physical things which one could never really own also signifies a futile longing for freedom from the trappings of material possessions and from the mundanity of everyday life- Muensterberger talks about collecting as a means of escapism into "a remote and private world" (p.15).

References: Muensterberger, W. 1994. Collecting – An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.