I began a year-long drawing project that required no special materials—just paper, pencils, and colored pencils. In December 2020, I collected soil from the meadows near my studio in Düsseldorf and brought it home in three buckets. I built a large wall in my studio, attached drawing paper to it, and placed the buckets of soil in front of the wall. To give the soil sufficient sunlight and water, I kept the buckets on the balcony. On the opposite side of the wall, I installed a projector that cast light onto the buckets, projecting their shadows onto the drawing paper.

Starting on January 1, 2021, I traced the shadows on the paper with a pencil every day. But over time, seeds in the soil began to sprout, and countless shoots appeared. By late spring, the plants had grown more than a meter tall. Each day, I recorded the growth of the plants on paper. The process was reminiscent of long-exposure photography, capturing the passage of time.

Throughout summer and autumn, the plants thrived, blossomed, produced seeds, and eventually withered. Yet even as some plants died, new ones emerged and grew. I was deeply moved by this natural cycle—how life arises from the earth, leaves behind the next generation, and fades away. On December 31, one year later, I completed two large drawings that documented this journey.

In addition to these pencil drawings, I also began creating works by cutting shapes from transparent paper. For these pieces, I placed tulips and lilies in a vase, then traced and cut out their shadows every day for three to four weeks, until the flowers wilted. By arranging the cut-out shadow forms in chronological order on transparent sheets, the transformation of the flowers over time became visible.

Everything in this world is in a constant state of change. Is change the destiny of all existence?