Empty Gestures

Empty Gestures, 2025, motorized flip-book triptych, archival inkjet photographs, hand-set letterpress text.

This triptych flip book explores the underlying expectations required to maintain relationships. Hands depict the gestures of giving and taking, never quite reaching each other. The emotional labor we perform to maintain relationships is often hidden, expected, or taken for granted. We tell each other Thank you, I love you, I’m Sorry. The things that make us feel safe often become meaningless because they are so ubiquitous or taken for granted. Through the repetitive, analog motion of prints, the words and images appear in a fleeting moment, becoming subliminal. They feel empty - but they are also all we have to communicate our needs. Just as a book holds language, shaping the way we understand the world, our daily gestures carry meaning, even when we don’t consciously recognize them. These small, repeated actions form the foundation of our relationships, quietly shaping the way we connect with those around us.