Upside down, 40x400cm, Frottage on paper, 2025

The frottage work began with the observation that many crawling insects move across a wide variety of surfaces and orientations: horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and even upside down. From my understanding, they seem to walk on such different angles with great ease.
I wanted to capture this phenomenon artistically. Using the technique of frottage, the aim was to make the various surfaces on which firebugs move visible and to present them in a continuous sequence. In doing so, I sought to illustrate how effortlessly these insects transition between orientations — from vertical to diagonal, and even to being upside down.
Frottage is particularly well-suited for capturing the texture of surfaces. During the working process, I followed the traces of the firebugs, using frottage to physically sense the surfaces, sometimes in uncomfortable or inverted positions. I would describe this approach as a form of mimicry: a bodily and artistic attempt to empathize with the movements of the firebugs through the hands and the technique of frottage.