I was a ‘primary carer’ for someone who spent most of his days line-writing. Once he had filled up the A4 sheet he was working on would he would tare off the pad, screw it up and throw in the bin. Sometimes he would do this all day long and he had done this for years. I saw purpose, beauty and meditation in what he was doing and felt it was time for his work to be valued.

So, with his permission, I began to take these screwed up pieces of paper out of the bin and another resident volunteered to paint over them. I then asked the line-writer if I could cut them up and make sculptures with them, he was very happy to watch me and he began to join in. We made a series of paper sculptures with them, eventually involving other members of staff with this activity until we had enough pieces to frame and exhibit them on a wall in his room. He was so delighted.

This process brought people together and created such a lovely calm atmosphere, reducing anxiety whilst helping me to build a bond and a lovely relationship.

These were not just paper sculptures; they had a long history behind them with so much meaning and personal process. Anyone can do paper sculptures, but when they have been made from something in this way it makes them very special and personal.

I like to think these sculptures are an illustration of how lives can entwine, sometimes in fragile and unusual ways. And a way of showing how easy the overlooked and undervalued can be discarded, yet become a major part of someones life.

Paper Sculptures, as Nicolas Bourriaud might describe, embody a relational aesthetic, transforming an ephemeral, undervalued act into a profound social and creative experience. Initially, the line-writing—repetitive and meditative—was dismissed as insignificant, its physical traces discarded. However, through intervention and collaboration, these overlooked gestures became the foundation of a communal artistic process.

By retrieving the discarded papers and involving another resident in painting them, the act of creation expanded beyond the individual. The original writer, once an isolated figure in his routine, became an active participant in reimagining his work. The transformation culminated in paper sculptures exhibited in his personal space, reframing these objects as symbols of shared histories and mutual recognition.

These sculptures illustrate how art materializes relational dynamics, embodying the intertwining of lives and the transformation of discarded acts into cherished expressions. The process reduced anxiety, fostered calm, and built bonds, exemplifying art’s potential to recontextualize the undervalued. Bourriaud’s lens would highlight this as a micro-utopia: an ephemeral yet significant social structure where lives and creativity intersect, reshaping perceptions of value and the possibilities of art in care.