#ONEADAY

#oneaday 

By David Hamlow 

// David's work will be on view beginning August 6th 12pm - 7pm 2020 //
WAC Temporary Hours beginning August 6th: Th-Fr 12pm - 7pm

Although I am best known for large installations made from package refuse resulting from my own consumption, my work has always been about the simple actions of daily life: how their repetition and mundanity render them invisible, and how, by making artworks that measure and accumulate evidence of daily action, its breadth and scope becomes apparent, making it possible to reassess its cost and impact. In the past these measurements were made through fairly traditional two-dimensional media: drawings, photographs and videos. 

This project was a way of reconnecting to those roots, but in a way that speaks to one of the realities of our current daily lives: social media.  As with all my projects, the impetus was a daily action I wanted to measure and observe, in this case the maintenance of my yard and vegetable garden. 

The rules are simple: if I am in my home any part of the 24-hour period of a day, I need to take one photograph from the same vantage point from the south window of my bedroom, down into my yard and garden below. If I am away from my home for more than 24 hours, the photograph can be taken anywhere I am, though often I prefer a picture from whatever room I slept in that day. 

The photos are captioned with the current date, day of the week and time of day along with the following hashtags: 

#oneaday:  This tag sends the photograph into a sea of over 80 thousand daily photograph projects posted by people from around the world. 

#stylefarmerdailyphoto: stylefarmer is my Instagram ‘handle’. This hashtag collects every photograph in the series, starting with the first on 1-01-2015. 

#sfdp2020 (or whatever year it was when the photo is taken):  This hashtag collects all the photos taken in the year. The goal is to have one photograph from every day of the year (a goal I have yet to achieve). 

Missing a photograph is usually a sign that I have become busy, anxious and preoccupied. Every day I return to the project, renewing my commitment to be present to the single day in which I am living. The project motivates me to take note of the natural world that is literally ‘in my back yard’, and be a present witness to its subtle, incremental changes, while also holding me accountable to my garden and yard, urging me to get out in the spring and plant my vegetables, tend them and watch the miraculous changes that unfold before my eyes each season. 

#WAC #wasecaartcenter #mywaseca #ruralart #art