It wasn’t us who died there. It was a mass of love. ─ PIDAN

A unique artist’s book assembled from discarded photographs and misprints, exploring memory, photography and what remains after we are gone.

We Did Not Die There, It Was a Mass of Love is an artist’s book by Chinese-born, Tokyo-based artist PIDAN.

The book is composed of unwanted photographs and misprints collected through an open call, which are cut apart and randomly reassembled into a new publication. The cut pages can be detached and read as an independent, smaller book. Alternatively, when left attached and opened together with the folding cover, fragmented images emerge alongside scattered texts, creating a distinctly different reading experience.

“In this world,
we will eventually die, yet photographs continue to multiply like madness.
As each of us disappears, so too do the memories attached to those photographs.
I believe
it is not us who die there.
What dies is everything about love—a mass of love.”

— PIDAN

—

Title: It wasn’t us who died there. It was a mass of love.
Artist: PIDAN
Publisher: Self-published, 2024
Format: Unique, small glue-bound book attached to a folding cardboard support
Size: Variable
Pages: Variable
Language: n/a
Edition: First edition
ISBN: n/a

*Please note that each copy is unique and differs in both content and design. Specific versions cannot be selected and will be supplied at random.