Over the next few weeks I will be posting my third series, The Century of Disintegration. For this series, I photographed the ashes of burned paper. It took nearly a month to create one hundred images for this project. I primarily used regular printer paper but also experimented with burning tissue, card stock, and a calender. During the ‘burning phase’ the paper was ignited by the flame of a candle.

I chose to work with fire for its symbolic relationship with destruction and its erratic and uncontrollable nature. The ashes are representative of the fragmentation of society and the individual over the course of a lifetime. On a larger scale, the ashes also represent the inevitable breaking apart of everything. The colors, compositions, and textures were chosen to highlight and draw attention to the subject of impermanence.

I began to recognize an increasing deterioration in the message of my work. The message was getting lost underneath a thick layer of ‘abstract art’ and I really wanted to uncover it and get back to that idea and I feel with this series that I finally have.

- Michael