The Palimpsest of Purity: Layers of Meaning
Frieja White
Purity is often perceived as a condition describing an original, unaltered state, free from
external influence or contamination. However, this view oversimplifies the concept. Just as a
palimpsest is created by erasing and rewriting over earlier texts, purity is shaped by cultural,
historical, and environmental interventions. Though the original essence may be obscured,
traces of past influences remain, creating a rich history of ideas. This thesis proposes
understanding purity as a layered, generative phenomenon that is malleable and evolves
over time. It invites the viewer to question conventional boundaries and see purity as fluid,
negotiated, and culturally constructed. Just as language itself is a construct, purity's
definition is negotiated and redefined through collective agreement, shaped by the cultural
and societal contexts in which it exists.
Palimpsest as Purity, Layers of Meaning
Each book is bound with handmade paper created from marked, discarded sheets. These fibers, like cultivated rice, carry visible traces of their past, pressed into a new form that honors imperfection, history, and transformation.
This book explores purity as a layered and evolving concept, using the metaphor of the
palimpsest to reveal how meaning, material, and memory accumulate over time.
Through the parallel processes of rice cultivation and handmade papermaking, it
examines how transformation, rather than erasure, shapes our understanding of what is
considered pure.
