The Museum of Loss and Renewal residency marked a shift in my practice from object-and-essence thinking toward the coexistence of the known and the unknowable. The work there was built on reflection, observation, and a specific kind of connection: proximity to a place I could never fully read. Time in Rome, particularly sustained looking at Bernini’s angels, reshaped my thinking about presence, absence, and what remains when function disappears. Sketchbook explorations moved through language, “essence” studies, and ultimately toward absence as a structural element. New questions surfaced about how people, places, and things continue to register after their use has expired.