From 2006, The Newspaper Series reminds us of the ritual of reading the morning paper, a custom easily taken for granted. At that time, Astman read several newspapers daily, collecting and stacking them 3ft high around the perimeter of the walls of her studio for an entire year. Newspapers for Astman were a place for discovery. By photographing them and digitally stitching them together, she created 52 unique strips, deliberately invoking the passing of one year.



In accumulating images representative of our media-obsessed culture, Astman mimics the daily and weekly cycles of news media, and in doing so she offers a reflection on our collective obsession with mass media and its underlying influence. On closer examination, Astman highlighted stories of tragedy, scandal, political instability, and local frenzy. Her image plays on our fascination with media, as well as its contradictory aspects as a compromised vehicle of communication.



This conceptual project is about a year of media. Each strip can be hundreds of photographs digitally stitched together representing a week of papers.