Patina_001:

Myopics - circa 2026 (Beltline, Calgary AB, Canada)

orphyry /ˈɔːr-fə-ree/ n.

The sudden vertiginous awareness that an ordinary object once had a life of extraordinary depth, mineral, molten, quarried, carved by unremembered hands, passed through centuries or continents, before it settled, anonymous and mute, into the small errand of being yours.

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“A sudden, stark realization that an object has seen an entirely different life beyond the one it has shared with you. The journey an object has taken, from minerals drawn from the earth, to refinement and fabrication. The lives who have touched it, each with a story of their own. Only to settle itself into a mundane and bland life.”

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“As he laid his pen beside his pad of paper after the day’s work, Smith reclined in his chair. Weary in his body, his mind raced. The day had taken its toll on Smith. The orphyry of the camera lens. A mix of centuries of human experimentation. The forging by unnamed hands, whose names are gone. Now, sits upon his desk. Still. Boring. Unused. Slowly fading to the background of the ill-considered.”