A discarded receipt may seem like a worthless scrap of paper, but to Japanese artist Viki, it is a record of someone's life, a fleeting moment that might otherwise be forgotten. By transforming receipts into intricate artworks, he hopes to preserve those everyday memories and create unexpected connections between strangers.
Using irons and other heated tools, Viki carefully darkens thermal paper to bring images of cats, butterflies and other subjects to life without paint or ink. He assembles receipts collected from across Japan and overseas into artworks that can contain thousands of individual slips. Viewed up close, the images reveal purchases, prices and fragments of personal histories. Some visitors have even recognized their own receipts, bringing long-forgotten memories flooding back. For Viki, these scraps of paper are more than artistic materials -- they are what he calls "tickets to communication."
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