In a shadowed corner of a 1960s home office, a woman known only as Florence staged an intimate photographic ritual. Bound in vintage cuffs, posed amid a filing cabinet and bare desk, Florence created over three hundred annotated images spanning decades—a systematic documentation where cataloging itself became the artistic act.
For “Chain of Love” in Venice, Paul Graves transforms Joystick into Florence’s power stage, examining her archive through the procedural lens of vernacular photography. In the installation, industrial filing cabinets elevate Florence, allowing her to fully emerge, leaving the viewer caught between voyeur and witness. - Tess Gruenberg

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Paul Graves is a multidisciplinary artist and collector whose work spans photography, film, and creative direction. He began his career studying under Michelangelo Pistoletto at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Known for blending high and low culture, Graves has created striking imagery for brands like Nike, Hermès, and Absolut Vodka, and has contributed to Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Elle, and GQ. Graves’ practice explores the intersection of archival obsession, personal memory, and cultural storytelling. In projects like Chain of Love, he curates overlooked visual histories—transforming forgotten archives into evocative public narratives.