The only permanence in life is the absolute promise of decay. Decomposition is just change, and everything in this world, digital images included, are not exempt from demise. Yet it is their mortality that makes pictures all the more precious, and this work aims to highlight the beauty therein. Deterioration is inevitable, and in this work its pace lies in the hands of visitors.

Using photographs from the public domain, the work also calls into question the digital archive. Is the archive a space of permanence or is it merely a state of slow decay? The images are ones of public significance but of no sentimental value to the audience. Therefore the act of decaying images has no personal bearing. This relationship might change, though, once visitors upload their own photographs and become witnesses to their decomposition...

Dana Melaver