Reconcile

Reconcile explores evidence, accountability, and the search for what remains when information has been obscured or distorted.

I use binary code as a fundamental element of information and letterpress printing to embed the digits into heavy cotton rag paper. The paper becomes a kind of archaeological site — the information is there, permanent, but buried beneath its surface. Through cutting, removing, and reconstructing the paper, fragments of information are excavated and brought into view.

The archaeological metaphor is central to the work. Excavation is not about creating something new, but uncovering what has always existed beneath the surface. The process requires patience and care, because removing what obscures the evidence can be as important as what is ultimately revealed. In Reconcile, the paper itself resists that process. Each fragment is extracted by force, making the physical act of excavation a metaphor for the difficulty of uncovering what has been concealed.

The left panel presents a field of digits that may never be fully decoded. The fragments exist as evidence, but their meaning is not immediately apparent. On the right, those same fragments are reassembled to spell the word proof. I chose the word for its legal connotation and its relationship to truth and reconciliation. But proof speaks to evidence without moving to judgment. It is literally the reconciliation of data — fragments brought together to reveal what was already there.

The work is not about creating a new truth, but recovering what has been concealed. The two panels document that movement from fragmentation toward reconstruction, from information that is difficult to interpret toward something that can be established and brought into view.

Reconcile asks us to look closely — to excavate, interpret, and confront what has been buried. It does not suggest that accountability is simple or that every fragment can be recovered. Instead, it proposes that accountability begins with the willingness to look at the evidence and to recognize what it reveals.

Ocean View, DE – 2026