Tofani • West Wall

XXXXXX

The wall facing west in our apartment gets the most weather.  The building was originally a small factory so the wall is just brick.  It’s painted on the inside but moisture from rain blown at the building from the west would after a time collect and seep through the brick to the paint causing the paint to bubble, break, and spill brick dust.  Just a  couple of years after we had renovated our space it was clear we had to do something more to the west wall.

We didn’t particularly mind living through the original renovation but once the place was cleaned up and in good shape we didn’t really want it messed up again.  A contractor was recommended to us who could do a good job and do it clean.  The contractor began by laying a path of corrugated  plastic sheets from our entrance over to the west wall.  Then he hung plastic sheeting a few feet out from and parallel to the wall he would be working on.  He also covered nearby bookcases with plastic.  Where the path met the sheeted area there was a zipper.  Every morning he zipped himself in and at the end of the day zipped out.  The remaining space in which we lived and worked remained amazingly undisturbed.

The strange white foot path and the ghostly curtain of plastic transformed the space.  I made photographs and after a while a book. 

XXXXXX

Tofani: West Wall made in an edition of 2. 8 x 12.5 inches. Ten archival ink jet prints mounted on Stonehenge paper, museum board ends, black 1-ply museum board cover. 2011.

XXXXXX