Project : I CAN

“Instead of making a picture that was an interpretation of a thing seen, or a picture of invented content, I found an object and 'presented' it as itself alone.”
— Ellsworth Kelly

I CAN is a year-long meditation on transformation, impermanence, and the overlooked beauty of the everyday. Rooted in a moment of stillness and inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s practice of seeing beyond the object, this project began with a simple shift in perception: noticing the crumpled aluminum cans scattered on the streets not as trash, but as symbols of resilience and individuality. Once part of a uniform mass, each can becomes unique through the forces of time, pressure, and chance. These discarded objects—bent, crushed, weathered—are metaphors for the human experience. They remind us that perfection is not the absence of flaw, but the presence of a story. Through daily walks and mindful attention, each can is chosen as the seed for one artwork. These 24" x 24" digital pigment prints are meditative responses—visual reflections on the imperfect made sacred. Each print exists as a singular piece, hand-signed and never to be repeated. The project embraces the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi—a quiet reverence for imperfection, impermanence, and the beauty of things modest and humble. Over the course of 365 days, I CAN becomes both a practice and a document: an archive of attention, a discipline of noticing, and a celebration of presence. At its conclusion, these daily works will be gathered into a book—a testament to persistence, to art as ritual, and to the profound simplicity of saying, every single day: I CAN.