In 2019, my friend Ben approached me and asked if I’d like to shoot a personal project with him. He said that over the years he’d been living with a condition called alopecia, which causes sudden hair loss with multiple circular spots; some being around the size of a quarter. He opened up about his feelings surrounding the condition, and how it has shaped him as a person. I was moved by his story and decided that a portrait session would be a good way to express the inner psychology of someone with alopecia. We set ourselves up in a studio in Brooklyn, and I made black and white portraits of him shaving his head. Starting with a full head of hair, and ending completely bald, Ben took full agency over the condition. Throughout the session, we garnered not only introspective images, but impenitent ones as well. Ben was completely confident in the making of this work, and conveyed an acute level of honesty.

After the session, we picked our favorite shots, edited them, and discussed print sizes. Over the years, the pictures sat quietly in my archives. Around 2021, I did a workshop at the Soapbox Community Print Shop in Philadelphia, and learned how to make my own paper. I made around 35 sheets of thick white paper using cotton and abacá fibers. I cut the paper down to size, scored them into book signatures (increasing the page count), and bound them together. In 2022, I made 23 original prints and adhered them to the pages. Ben and I collaborated on the design of the cover and I eventually completed the maquette. In New York, I took another workshop on building slipcases at the Center for Book Arts. This enabled me to build a house for the maquette, resulting in one of the most durable and personal objects in my collection.

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Maquette for The Size of a Quarter

5.75 x 8.5”

56 handmade pages, 23 images
Handbound / Slipcased
1 of 1
2022