The front page of a newspaper is an identifier of time.  It symbolizes “today” and “now”.  Because of how it is produced (once a day) and coming from an official source (news publication company) it is a good, clean indicator of time when it is captured by a photographic apparatus(which itself has fragile relationship to time, or at least, telling of time); the façade of a newspaper is neutral and cannot be easily manipulated (unless you know what would be printed before hand).  Also it has the advantage of been seen by large population.  Many can vaguely remember the layout and design of a front page, at least before seeing the next one.  Thus, in a way, front page is like a human face, identifiable, yet when a stranger, easy to forget from one to another.  All together, newspaper’s façade proves a marker of time up-to-a-point.  When a subject is photographed with it, we understand it as existence-up-to-that-point.
This piece, Captured, takes the form of photographing the artist holding the front page of a newspaper.  The act is to be done with each day’s front paper, repeated everyday.  On one hand, the artist is relying on the form of newspaper to prove his existence from day to the next (He is still alive!).  On the other, the artist is also documenting the demise of the newspaper media as a whole.  In the digital age where print publications are been replaced, it is conceivable in the very near future newspaper would disappear altogether.  The artist’s face is then, acts as the marker for newspaper, as the role is reversed.  The artist and the newspaper are holding each other hostage in the prison of time and neither one can escape.

Captured started in March 3, 2011. It will end neither the artist (1982-) decease first or newspaper (print-media) disappear first.

To see the whole project in progress, click here theatercats.com

Photo documentation of tatoos on artist's body.