publication project
Da Colour of Reality (2024)
Da Colour of Reality is an ongoing limited-edition print collection that explores trauma, memory, emotional recovery, and the ways we process lived experiences over time. The work was presented at Offprint at Tate Modern in 2024 and consists of two editions: the first comprising 36 prints and the second expanding to 52 works.
The collection emerged from a deeply personal experience following a serious fall in which I broke my jaw. During recovery, I became increasingly aware of how physical trauma alters perception, memory, and emotional responses. The works became a visual language through which I could examine pain, healing, resilience, and the fragmented nature of recollection.
Central to the collection is a unique printmaking process that I developed through experimentation. Layers of grout are gradually applied to the paper over an extended period, creating a thickened and heavily textured surface that becomes an active part of the image. Rather than serving as a passive support, the paper carries the physical weight of the work, recording time, pressure, and repeated interventions. The resulting surfaces resemble scars, sediment, and accumulated memories, embodying the emotional and physical traces that trauma leaves behind.
Colour plays a significant role throughout the series. It operates not only as a visual element but as an emotional register, reflecting shifting states of vulnerability, resilience, confusion, and acceptance. Through repetition and variation, each print becomes a response to a particular memory or feeling, while the collection as a whole forms a larger narrative about recovery and transformation.
Presented together as a board of prints, Da Colour of Reality invites viewers to reflect on their own experiences of trauma, healing, and remembrance. The work proposes that reality is not fixed or objective, but shaped by the emotional and psychological layers we carry with us. Through material experimentation and personal storytelling, the collection transforms individual experience into a shared space for reflection and connection.
