The French poet and painter Henri Michaux coined the term “apparitions” for his frottages, alluding to presences that appeared on paper by chance as much as by choice. The technique of frottage - basic but sensuous in its tactility and intimacy - yields results that combine properties of drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, and it remains an experimental practice in studios today. “Rubbings belong to the indefinable status of ‘in-between,’ and embody the transformation that occurs in the transfer from surface to surface,” said exhibition curator Allegra Pesenti. “A metamorphosis of the rubbed object may arise in that process, as well as a revelation of previously unrecognized traces and textures. Appearances become apparitions.”¹

¹ 'Apparitions in Frottages & Rubbings from 1860 to Now’, HOUSTON, TX, August, 27, 2015
View, research on artists who have worked with frottages

To explore the universal destination of death I visited two cemeteries, Brompton and High Gate, each providing a different insight into the role of purpose in the life of Man. Using photographs and charcoal frottages, I created images that narrate a story as well as capture the essence of the graveyard. 

Here I have used photographs and flowers collected from the graveyard with papermaking techniques. Hand made papermaking’s versatility as an artistic medium makes it an area without defined edges. The delicate nature of the recycled poetry harmonizes with the decay of the flowers to create a series of works that expressed the chilling etherealness of the graveyards. 

I visited the Crossbones Cemetery where 16,000 women and children are buried in unmarked graves. The women were denied a proper burial by the church because they had led a “life of sin” as prostitutes. In remembrance of the event, shrines and memorials were left behind by visitors for the nameless buried. This was in stark contrast to what I saw at the Brompton and Highgate cemetery. It wasn’t the only instance of dehumanization, marginalization and erasure of identity, one can see it reappearing throughout history. 

In my attempt to give an identity to the nameless dead, I used graphite rubbings from individual graves at Highgate and Brompton Cemetery that had texts such as ‘Dear Mother’ or names of young children. I aimed to record the disparity by painting and printing photographs of the Crossbones memorials onto these frottages.

This piece was a response to the contrasts I witnessed between Highgate, Brompton, and the Crossbones Cemetery. An average size of a grave is 6 feet deep and 2.5 feet wide. The border enclosing the prints is the same size to represent a single grave in a privileged burial. The prints of the feet represent the number of bodies that can fill up a single grave in a mass burial like the Crossbones Cemetery.