Debris of the Days

Debris of the Days is an accumulation of photographs, archives, and ephemera from the artist’s studio, a tactile glimpse into experimental practice and daily rituals of Bryan Graf. The book’s title was inspired by the poetry of Raymond Carver, who, as Graf writes, “wrote about the debris of the days, and how that dust sculpts our lives. In its spiral bound form, the book acts as sketchbook of sorts, sculpted by the detritus orbiting Graf’s images. Debris of the Days also reflects on the artist book as practice—particularly darkroom work—which inherently involves the physical layers of material. The repetition of making print after print, the rhythm and repetition of sequence, and the final, tactile stages of printing and binding the book itself, are all evident in this publication. The book, comprised of images, text, inserts, torn pages, vellum—which overlay the images in a nod to darkroom process—unravel the layers, rhythm, and repetition of Graf’s daily practice. Like the ideas for short stories and poems found written in a tiny notebook in Carver''s terry cloth robe after his death, Debris of the Days creates an unfinished portrait of the artist told through fragments.