639 Days is made as a companion piece to the book, 22 Months. 639 Days is a series of 639 attempts to use a thermal label printer to create a full recreation of my face while battling the printer’s inability to see shades outside of absolute black or white. The total size of the piece is 3x36’.
This exercise, for me, felt like a visualization of how grief can shatter one’s sense of self and the disjointed process of recovery that follows. Loss feels like the world shattering around us all at once. During the days, weeks, months following that loss, we’re left to pick up the pieces and take stock of what we still have left, even as the world moves on around us. Each day feels like picking up a new missing piece of the person you once were. However, as time passes, you realize that you will likely never find every piece, nor is it possible to fit them back together again. Recovery opens the door for a new sense of self to be created through this slow process of rediscovering ourselves in the everyday, taking the time to analyze each piece, and deciding how we move forward.
It took 639 days for me to recognize this pattern and begin that process for myself. If you are experiencing grief yourself, though, then I want you to remember this is only the first step. They’re right that you don’t ever move on, but “moving forward” can almost become a spiritual practice.
