zzzz
zzzz was a drawing project I began on May 4, 2021, a few months after my first daughter was born. While settling into life as a new dad, I decided to make a drawing of the letter “z” whenever she went down for a nap, allowing her sleep schedule to dictate when I drew. To determine how each drawing would be made, I flipped a coin. If it landed on heads, the negative space was black; if it landed on tails, the negative space was white. The project had the following parameters:
- A nap is a drawing session. Only one drawing could be made during a session, though multiple drawings could be made in a single day.
- Drawing began once my daughter fell asleep. If she woke up before I began, I missed my opportunity to make a drawing.
- Each drawing is labeled on the back with the date, the time it was completed, and its number in the series.
- After completion, each drawing was placed in a wooden box. The interior length of the box is 19 inches long, corresponding to my daughter's height at birth. The project ended when no more drawings could fit inside the box.
zzzz concluded on November 2, 2023, and consists of 1,232 drawings. At the beginning of the project, I averaged three to four drawings a day; near the end, I was making one drawing per day. This change coincided with my daughter's sleep schedule, which fluctuated over the course of two years. At the end of the project I sealed the box. The final piece is a block of time that captures the beginning of my daughter's life.
The box was constructed by Trappist Caskets of New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa.
