Unfolding

"Unfolding" is a project that begins with the traditional gesture of Japanese origami, but deconstructs it to explore what is usually hidden: the marks, tensions, and decisions embedded in the act of folding.
Instead of presenting the final figure, the process is reversed:
the paper is folded, then unfolded, and finally painted only in specific sections defined by the creases.
The result is not a figure, but a map, a physical record of time, action, and memory.
Each sheet contains the trace of what it was (the intention to become form) and what it is now (an expanded surface, marked and partially revealed).

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Conceptual Background

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A. Material Memory
Paper remembers.
Each fold leaves a unpermanent/permanent trace. Even when undone, the history remains inscribed.
This reflects the idea that processes do not disappear, they transform.

B. Tradition vs. Disruption
Traditional origami seeks precision, final form, and perfection.
Here, that objective is dismantled:
•    There is no recognizable figure. 
•    There is no “correct” result. 
•    Only the internal structure of the process remains. 
It becomes a contemporary reinterpretation of an ancestral practice.

C. Control and Chance
While folding may be structured, painting introduces intuitive decisions:
•    Why choose those sections and not others? 
•    What happens when pigment seeps into the fibers? 
A dialogue emerges between control (folding) and spontaneity (painting).

D. Scale and Perception
By enlarging the paper:
•    The gesture becomes physical, almost architectural. 
•    The viewer no longer simply observes—the work is experienced spatially. 
•    Folds shift from detail to landscape.
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​"Memory of the Fold" transforms origami into an act of recording rather than representation.
It does not show what paper can become, but everything that happens in the attempt.
The works exist in an in-between state:
•    between form and surface 
•    between intention and result 
•    between tradition and contemporaneity 
The project invites viewers to notice what is usually overlooked:
the invisible traces of decisions, time, and transformation.

 

 

 

Key Components or Elements:

1. The Paper
•    Material: High-quality Japanese paper (such as washi), with visible fibers and organic texture. 
•    Format: Much larger than traditional origami (e.g., 50 × 50 cm or larger). 
•    Physical Presence: The paper is not just a support, it is the subject. It breathes, absorbs, and subtly deforms with each fold. 

2. The Process (Core Action)
•    Folding: Origami structures (geometric or intuitive) are applied, generating a network of tensions. 
•    Unfolding: The paper returns to a flat state, but never the same, it retains lines, relief, and physical memory. 
•    Selection: One or two sections created by the folds (triangles, rhombuses, irregular polygons) are chosen. 
•    Pictorial Intervention: 
o    Only those sections are painted. 
o    This may involve flat color, gradients, ink, or natural pigments. 
o    The rest of the surface remains untouched, creating a strong contrast between intervention and silence. 

3. Visual Language
•    Revealed Hidden Geometry: The folds expose an internal structure usually invisible in finished origami. 
•    Minimalism: Very limited pictorial intervention across a large surface. 
•    Visual Tension: The eye is drawn to painted areas, but the entire surface, defined by folds, sustains the work. 

4. Installation
•    Works can be: 
o    Slightly offset from the wall, allowing light to emphasize relief and shadow. 
o    Suspended in space, revealing both sides of the paper. 
o    Displayed in series, showing variations of the same folding system.