Famous Photographs Remade in Toilet Paper

At the end of March, with the shelter in place plan in full effect, Bay Area photographers Jenny Sampson, Colleen Mullins, Nicole White, and Christy McDonald embarked on a creative approach to self-quarantining. They started making daily homages to their favorite photographs – in toilet paper.

“Thinking about the seriousness of the moment combined with the surreal quality of what was occurring around us,” the photographers say in their statement, “we thought that we should make images to occupy our time and give us something to work on while in our homes."

Pappeja Ferolls Un-done, a Deputy Directress of Corona, Veils Face and Hands in the Presence of Me, 2020
© Jenny Sampson
(After Margeret Bourke-White’s Khadeeja Feroze Ud-din, a Deputy Directress of Education, Veils Face and Hands in the Presence of Men, 1947)

Making at least one new image every day and posting to the Instagram account “Rolls and Tubes,” (follow them!) the project references the canonical 1978 photography exhibition entitled, “Mirrors and Windows,” curated by John Szarkowski at MOMA. Barely two weeks after launching on Instagram, they already have enough images for a thoughtfully paced exhibition. They're also being mindful not to waste. They often use only a single square in a shoot, and never throw anything away.

For these photographers, adding humor doesn’t diminish the real crisis that many of us – especially older and at-risk individuals – experience. It's a means to connect. "While we are lucky to be healthy," says Mullins, "we feel a little like those characters on The Walking Dead, who reside in Alexandria, a pre-apocalypse community who never really lived out among Zombies. We empathize with the loss, pain and anguish people are experiencing as it is – more mediated than usual."

Rolls and Tubes is more than a one-liner. It builds on the almost-stale genre of photo appropriation with a new hyper-relevant and hilariously inventive style. We can’t wait to see how it evolves.

Wadded Decumbens Against Toilet Tissue, Berkley, 2020 © Jenny Sampson
(After Harry Callahan’s Weed Against Sky, Detroit, 1948)

Still Life with Apples, Pears and Charmin Forever Roll, 2020
(After Daniel Gordon’s Still Lie with Pitcher, Apples, 2013) by Nicole White

Last Tubes, near The Fillmore, United States, 2020 © Colleen Mullins
(After Albert Renger-Patzsch, Blast Furnaces, near Lubeck, Germany, 1927)

Roll Construct 1, 2020 © Nicole White
(After Barbara Kasten’s Construct XXII, 1983

“Self Portrait,” 2020. © Jenny Sampson
(After Alma Levenson’s Self-Portrait, 1932)

Squ. 9, 2020 © Colleen Mullins
(After Erin Shirreff’s Fig 9, 2019)

Teaubular Under Plastic (1), 2020 © Jenny Sampson
(After Peter Hujar’s Beauregard Under Plastic (1), 1983)

Peer’s Housebound, San Francisco, CA, 2020 © Colleen Mullins
(After Alec Soth’s Peter’s Houseboat, Winona, MN, 2002.)