Status
KEPT is in development. Public documentation is intentionally limited ahead of first exhibition and representation conversations. A preview dossier and studio visits are available to galleries, curators, and collectors by request.
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Kept
(Ongoing)
KEPT is an ongoing painting practice built from an archive of opted-in handwritten prayers and requests gathered through cross installations deployed across varied public contexts—churches, public gatherings, correctional facilities, and international sites. With explicit consent, each permitted tag is preserved as source material.
From this growing archive, a curated selection is translated into monumental works—acrylic on raw linen (6+ feet tall)—reproduced exactly as written. Misspellings stay. Awkward spacing stays. Nothing is edited. Each painting retains its original handwritten tag as an integral element: source artifact and provenance. The work functions as reliquary, record, and assignment.
KEPT (prototype / field collection view). Cross apparatus used to gather opted-in handwritten tags in situ. Full documentation released in collaboration with exhibiting institutions.
About This Work
KEPT begins in the field: a cross apparatus placed in shared environments where people choose to leave a brief prayer or request. Many of these writings would normally be removed and discarded. I keep the opted-in ones.
The handwriting is not treated as content to improve. It is evidence—pressure, spacing, omissions, misspellings. Nothing is corrected. What changes is not the text, but the conditions of encounter: scale, duration, material, and visibility.
The project does not rescue these words. It proceeds from the premise that they were already received—and asks what it means for us to receive them too. KEPT is a refusal of disappearance. It asks what we owe a stranger’s words once we’ve read them—and whether witnessing is already a form of keeping.
Method
KEPT is a practice with fixed constraints.
Field deployment sites
Prayers are gathered wherever cross installations are hosted—churches, public spaces and events, correctional facilities, and international contexts—through a consistent participation protocol. The field apparatus is not exhibited.Explicit consent (opt-in)
Only prayers with explicit permission are eligible to be displayed, documented, reproduced, or translated into paintings.Preservation
Each opted-in tag is kept exactly as written. The material record remains intact.Translation (no edits)
A curated selection is enlarged faithfully into paintings—acrylic on raw linen (6+ feet tall). Spelling, grammar, spacing, and line breaks remain as they were.Presentation
The work is presented as monumental paintings (primary). A curated archive component may accompany exhibitions depending on context. The cross remains a field collection apparatus and is not exhibited. When a prayer becomes a painting, the original tag remains with the painting.
Consent and Ethics
Because the source material is personal, KEPT operates by clear protocol:
Opt-in only. If the permission box is not checked, the writing is not used in the artwork, documentation, or display.
No names requested. Participants are asked not to include personal identifiers.
No identification attempt. I do not attempt to determine who wrote any prayer.
No edits, no polishing. The handwriting is preserved and translated exactly as written.
Respect for context. Documentation is handled with restraint and care, prioritizing dignity over spectacle.
Inquiries
For representation, exhibitions, press, studio visits, or available works:
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