Exhibition Text

In this series, Illya Goldman Gubin crushes a sheet of paper together with carbon paper, allowing the carbon to register every fold, pressure, and shift of the gesture. The action becomes a direct imprint of a moment, preserving the singular movement of crushing as a visual trace. An intriguing result emerges: which material is the true original? Carbon paper exists to produce copies, yet it is the first to receive the folds, the first surface touched by the movement. The white paper shows the visible result, but only because the carbon has recorded and transferred the movement. The “original” is therefore split between the two - one holding the initial impact, the other revealing it. Gubin keeps both sheets together in a box, leaving the spectator to decide where the origin truly lies. Limited to 50