Through this project, I examine the omnipresence of the self and explore the possibility of its removal.
Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, which advocates detachment from the ego, I neutralize its subjective value by extracting it from its original context.
To do this, I scan and print my diaries, cut out each instance of the word "Je" (French for „I“) and glue them back together into an ordered pattern. This piece contains the equivalent of all of my 80-pages journals, spanning 12 years in total.
Through the absurdity of its relentless repetition, the "I" gets lost and forgotten. Short of breath from wanting to impose itself without success, it deflates, settles down and finally breathes in. Content to be there, it contemplates its fellows: one among a thousand, tiny and insignificant, roughly the same by its shape, yet subtly different by the curve of its letters, and none of it seems to matter anymore as it breathes out, drawing its last, liberating breath.
