Planting the Seeds of Light: The First Public Presentation of Bag-Frame Design
- Piotr R Damian V
- Aug 16
- 3 min read
27 May 2026 · Material Preview/Centro Rogers · Scandicci, Firenze
On 27 May 2026, Planting the Seeds of Light moved from my studio practice into public space. For the first time, I presented the Bag-Frame Design, photo abstracts, art objects and manifesto together... not simply as individual works, but as different expressions of one evolving artistic project. In my previous post, I shared the story behind the development of Bag-Frame Design: from my first experiments combining photo abstracts and bags, through UNDERSKIN and BECOMING THE LIGHT, to the ideas that eventually led to PLANTING THE SEEDS OF LIGHT.
This time, I want to share what happened when the project left the studio, entered a public space and met its audience.
→ Read the story behind the development of Bag-Frame Design: click here
From an Idea Into a Shared Experience
One of the most meaningful moments of the exhibition was standing on stage and speaking about the journey behind the work.
I shared how the project evolved over the years and how my understanding of the bag itself gradually changed.
It stopped being simply an object that carries our belongings.
I began to see it as a frame.
A frame can hold an image, but it can also hold a story, a memory, an emotion or an expression of identity.
This idea became central to the development of Bag-Frame Design.
The Frame as a Space for Personal Expression
In this exhibition, it takes different physical forms: the Bag-Frame Design, which can be carried and become part of a person’s everyday life, and the Wood Frame Design, which allows the photo abstract to exist as an art object within a space.
In both, the frame creates a physical structure around the photo abstract while leaving the image itself at the centre.
The frame and the photo abstract are conceived to exist in dialogue with one another... structure and image, exterior and interior, object and meaning.
The same photo abstract can therefore move between different contexts: it can become part of an object we carry with us, or an artwork we live alongside.
For me, this is where the frame becomes more than a border around an image.
It becomes a space through which a personal image, story or symbolic meaning can be carried, displayed and experienced.
When the Work Meets People
Perhaps the most beautiful part of the exhibition was seeing people encounter the project for the first time.
People stopped to look closely at the works.
They asked questions.
We talked about the Bag-Frames, the photo abstracts, the symbolism and the journey behind Planting the Seeds of Light.
Some wanted to photograph the pieces.
Others asked to take photographs together with me.
These moments meant a great deal to me.
Until an exhibition opens, so much of an artist's relationship with a project happens privately... through thinking, experimenting, making, questioning and changing direction.
Then suddenly other people enter that relationship.
They bring their own experiences.
Their own questions.
Their own interpretations.
And the work begins to exist differently...
PART 2 — November 2026
This first presentation was not the conclusion of Planting the SeedS of Light.
It was the beginning of its public life.
The project will continue in November 2026 at Material Preview, where I will present more expanded body of work.
Visitors will be able to discover more bag designs and photo abstracts, allowing different parts of the project and its evolving visual language to be experienced together.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone who came to see the exhibition.
And thank you to all the people who, in different ways and at different moments, have helped this project move from an idea into physical form.
Seeing the work surrounded by people reminded me of something important:
an artwork does not necessarily finish when the artist finishes making it.
Sometimes that is exactly where another part of its life begins.
The seed has been planted.
Now I want to see where it grows.
Planting the Seeds of Light
Bag-Frame Design · Photo Abstracts · Art Objects · Participatory Art
Artist: Piotr R Damian V - PRDV First public presentation: 27 May 2026 Venue: Material Preview Location: Scandicci, Italy Next presentation: November 2026 · Material Preview
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