On the desk, stationery stands silently. Assembled from ordinary desk items, these temporary arrangements exist only briefly before collapsing; yet within the image, they are held hovering for a moment, suspended just before falling. The inherent stillness (stationary) of stationery stretches a pause open — a held breath, a frozen paradox, an instant gently elongated.
Office stationery is typically white, transparent, and reflective; or slender and portable, these taciturn objects practice a kind of “invisibility” that dissolves the gaze and defocuses the lens. The tabletop, a temporary stage, is also their daily dwelling. As the camera zooms in, among ambiguities, a timeline gently unfolds, the stationary performance begins.
The artist’s practice embraces fragility and chance. In this tension between transience and stillness, Stationary Stationery reflects on how fleeting moments can be gently held — not as a manifesto, but through attentiveness and play.
In collaboration with Surfacing Press as its inaugural publication, Stationary Stationery is published in September 2025, designed by gideon-jamie.
