From February 15, 2013 to February 15 of this year, designer Simon Graham documented his life—first-person style—with his phone. With blogs no longer being the principal platform for digital diary entries, Graham gave a much-needed update to the Internet trend of inventive daily documentation:
Val, the name of Graham’s resulting documentary, comes from both the artist’s mother’s and son’s full names. It serves as a commemoration to both Valerie Sheppard and Leonard Valentino Graham, who passed away and were born, respectively, in Graham’s single year of documentation. In Graham’s own words, he felt the name “truly represents this crazy circle of life” we live in.
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That ‘circle of life’ theme is certainly seen in the rest of Val’s aesthetics, as the logo is not just surrounded by a mandala–a spiritual symbol representing the universe–but by a of multitude circular disks, each representing a day in the yearlong project.
In the past year, Graham moved into a new home, traveled to Australia, started a new job, lost a mother, and gained a son. He then animated the collection of images in a film that serves as a day-to-day visual diary of this snippet of time.
A snapshot of all 365 days.
Through the resulting video, viewers get a poignant, first-person insight into of a year in Graham’s life:
Val from Simon Graham on Vimeo .Like what you see? Enjoy more of Simon Graham’s work on his website, SimonGraham.tv.
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Photo: Alina Rudya/Bell Collective / Getty Images -
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