Papa Bois, 2025High Pressure Laminate, 112 x 112 cm
In Trinidad and Tobago, the hummingbird is believed to carry the souls of ancestors. Thus, hunting and eating them imposes a great risk of upsetting God and falling victim to divine retribution. That’s how the people explained the presence of a vast asphalt lake on the islands. According to the island’s mythology, a tribe did the unforgivable and was consequently entombed under the subhuman matter of what we know today as asphalt.
The works in the Profilplatten series each tell their own story, and together they form a curated perspective on constructed human–environment relationships. By refusing to be obvious, each image creates presence, inviting it to be observed and understood. What gives the depicted its significance? Common objects become carriers of meaning, and overlooked stories come into focus. Each piece captures a fragment of a world considered worth isolating and presenting. The series reflects themes of civilization, rituals, dominance, rationalization, and the unnoticed details of everyday life. The topics originate from a broader research question on what allows us humans to perceive and make sense of our environment.
