Just a Second

2022, participatory performance, sixty drawings (ink on paper, each 15x15cm). Photos by Document Photography.

Just a Second was a participatory performance presented at The Lock-Up, Newcastle, as part of the exhibition Radical Slowness. The work explored the significance of a single second through a series of time-bound exchanges with participants. One at a time, individuals were invited to share something about themselves within the span of one second—a word, a brief phrase, a gesture or a glance. In response, I made a drawing in one second for them to keep.

Through this exchange, a unit of time often understood as fleeting was made palpable. Each encounter unfolded as a precise, reciprocal action in which offering and response were held in balance. The work accumulated through these one-second interactions, where each offering was met with a drawn response, forming a brief exchange held momentarily and carried away.