Valued (Paper Trail)

Artist statement

This work is made from 181 price tags collected from second-hand clothing over time. Normally discarded after purchase, these tags are retained and stitched onto paper, forming a paper trail of repeated transactions.

Arranged in a grid, the tags resemble a ledger where value is recorded and counted. Each tag once marked a low-cost purchase, something easily justified, often understood as responsible consumption.

Individually, these decisions feel minor. Together, they form a mass.

This is a self-portrait made without a face. The work reveals how small, reasonable choices accumulate into unintended excess over time.