In 2003, upon arriving to the Bay Area, I came across a playing card lying in the street and decided to pick it up. There was something intriguing about it lying there, forgotten, scuffed, and useless while simultaneously rendering the deck from which it was lost useless, too. I took it home. It wasn't long before I found another. I picked that up and took it with me, too. Once I started paying attention, I found them regularly, though there have been long periods between discovery. Occasionally I would find one and then immediately a handful of others from the same deck. I began to wonder how long it would take to piece together a full set.
One might consider that what is even just passively considered is made easier to see. Our minds, being the pattern-matching engines that they are, can be tuned over time to identify visual repetitions. In looking more closely at these repetitions, unique details emerge. Similarly, the mind can be tuned to ignore visual frequencies. Where one might see a piece of trash, I see a mystery, and what potentially constitutes a missing piece.
Twelve years later I have, among others, 5 twos, 8 threes, 9 nines, 7 queens, and 4 jokers, but I still don't have a full deck.
This portfolio represents a handful of my favorites.
