ART & DESIGN

Ordinary Witnesses

Familiar objects carrying public disturbance.

A lamp, floor, candleholder, vessel, spice, or surface may first appear as design. Then the source enters: a death, a raid, a wall, a burial site, a policy, a system of harm.

The work happens in the return. The object remains what it is, but the first reading no longer holds.

First look.
Source revealed.
Object returned.
Reading changed.

Last updated: June 27, 2026

Jump to object:
The Fallen Lamp · The Bruised Weave Furniture Series · Memorial Candleholder · The Open Ground Floor Treatment · The Divided Light · Forest Cookware · The Potish Vessel Series · The Separated Table · The Wall Candleholder · Piece of Evidence Lights · The Withheld Vessel Series · The Struck Pendant · The Pretext Candleholder · The Hold Sculpture

Rendered design study of The Fallen Lamp

The Fallen Lamp
Rendered design study — blackened steel / brass / fiberglass / parchment

Rendered design study of The Fallen Lamp, in Small

The Fallen Lamp — Small

The Fallen Lamp — Round

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Fallen Lamp — Small by Martin Lenclos

The Fallen Lamp Source Note by Martin Lenclos

The Fallen Lamp — Round by Martin Lenclos

The Fallen Lamp — Perception Question by Martin Lenclos

The Bruise Weave Console Table by Martin Lenclos following the LA Protests

The Bruised Weave — Console table
Console table witness study — woven rattan / blackened steel

The Bruised Weave — Chair

The Bruised Weave — Low Table

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to images of peaceful protesters in LA emerging from demonstrations with severe bruising after police use of so-called less-lethal rounds.

Can an object still feel restful after it begins to carry the marks of force?

Memorial Candleholder I — A Candle a Week
Design study — oak / wax candles / sand

Memorial Candleholder II — A Candle a Day
Design study — lack powder-coated steel / wax candles / ceramic dish / sand

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made during the coronavirus pandemic, in response to the realization that death was not only exceptional but daily: from illness, war, famine, age, accidents, violence, and ordinary loss. The boxes recall simple coffins and anonymous burial, but the

A Candle a Week Memorial candleholder study — wood / wax candles / sand

What changed when the object stopped holding candles and began holding mourning?

The Open Ground V
Floor witness studies — concrete / clay brick excavation

The Open Ground II — Floor witness studies

Open Ground II — Oak / clay brick / concrete

Open Ground I & III — oak / white clay brick / concrete trench

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Divided Light — Floor; a floor lamp study by Martin Lenclos

The Divided Light — Floor Lamp
Floor lamp study — blackened steel / antique bronze interior

The Divided Light — Table; a desk lamp study by Martin Lenclos

The Divided Light — Desk Lamp
Desk lamp study — blackened steel / antique bronze interior

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to severe injuries inflicted on demonstrators during the Gilets Jaunes protests in France, including eye injuries linked to flash-balls and LBD 40 rubber-bullet launchers.

What changed when the light began to look wounded?

Made in response to family separation under U.S. immigration enforcement, where parents, children, and households have been divided by detention, deportation, border policy, and ICE action.

Can you still see it as only a useful thing?

Forest Cookware I — Round Pan
Wood cookware witness study — white oak

Forest Cookware II — Sapele Handle Wood cookware witness study — white oak / sapele

Forest Cookware III — Three Round Pans Wood cookware witness studies — white oak / set of three

Forest Cookware II & III
Wood cookware witness studies — white oak and sapele

Forest Cookware IV — Elongated Grill Dish
Wood cookware witness study — white oak / carved grill channels

Forest Cookware — Rendering for experiment in perception

Made in response to cattle-driven deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, where cattle pastures occupy much of the land cleared from forest.

When do carved lines begin to read as clearings?

Made in response to cattle ranching and agricultural expansion across the Gran Chaco, a dry forest spanning Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia, where forest is being fragmented by pasture and commodity production.

Made in response to forest conversion for cattle ranching in Colombia and the wider Amazon frontier, where pasture expansion has continued to pressure tropical forest and Indigenous territories.

Made in response to deforestation in Bolivia’s Amazon and Chiquitano regions, where fires and agricultural expansion, including cattle and soy frontiers, have intensified forest loss.

Forest_Cookware_Series-P10075-Wood_&_Wood_Grill_Pan-Deforestation_In_Bolivia-Lenclos-o2-R5b.jpg

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Extraction Vessel from the Potish Series — Terracotta witness studies / jar series

The Potish Vessel — Extraction
Terracotta witness studies / jar series

The Potish Vessel — Ruin

The Potish Vessel — Broadcast

The Potish Vessel — Carceral

The Potish Vessel — Disempowered

The Potish Vessel — Disobedient

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Potish Vessel-Disempowered-R10013-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Potish Vessel-Disobedient-R10012-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Potish Vessel-Carceral-R10016-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Potish Vessel-Extraction-R10011-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Potish Vessels — Ruin. Terracotta witness studies / jar series

The Potish Vessel-Broadcast-R10014-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Potish Vessel-Foundations-R10017-Martin_Lenclos.jpg

The Separated Table
Concrete witness study / side table

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to the separation of Uyghur families in China’s Xinjiang region, where children have been separated from detained or exiled parents and placed in state-run institutions.

What changed when the table stopped being only a beautiful, useful object?

The Wall Candleholder; Rendered design study / candleholder

The Wall Candleholder
Candleholder witness study — brass / square copper-colored candles

The Wall Candleholder — Fallen

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Wall Candleholder — Separation. Rendered design study / candleholder

The Wall Candleholder — Separation. Rendering

The Wall Candleholder — Separation
Brass / square copper-colored and white candles

Pieces of Evidence
Steel, hammered brass, and LED light studies / set of three

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to the killing of Breonna Taylor, who was shot in her home during a Louisville police raid in 2020, and to images of pyramidal evidence markers placed around the scene.

What changed when the light became evidence?

The Withheld Vessel I — Double Front
Bisque ceramic witness studies / vessel series

The Withheld Vessel II — Bridged

The Withheld Vessel III — Crowned

The Withheld Vessel VI — Tall Crown

The Withheld Vessel V — Crossed Hold

The Withheld Vessel IV — Side Hold

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and to the public memory of a life taken through prolonged pressure, restraint, and the denial of breath.

What changes when a vessel withholds the opening you expected?

What happens when the expected mouth becomes a closed surface?

Why do the side openings feel insufficient once the top is withheld?

Withheld Series original drawings by Martin Lenclos

The Withheld Vessel Series
Drawings: Martin Lenclos

The Struck Pendant
Tinted fiberglass witness study / pendant light

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Made in response to the severe injuries inflicted on demonstrators during the Gilets Jaunes protests in France, including life-altering eye wounds caused by flash-balls and LBD 40 rubber-bullet fire.

Can an object remain domestic after public violence has been seen in it?

Tinted fiberglass witness study / pendant light

Pretext I by Martin Lenclos — Candleholder witness study — ancient copper / three white taper candles / 45-degree angle

Pretext I
Candleholder witness study — ancient copper

Pretext II

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

Image of The Hold, a concrete and cement wall study / two-part wall piece by Martin Lenclos

The Hold
Concrete and cement wall study / two-part wall piece

PERCEPTION INQUIRY

The Hold, Concrete and cement wall study — Martin Lenclos

Image No. 2 of The Hold, Concrete and cement wall study — Martin Lenclos

META NOTES

This page is a living document. Newly created on June 27, 2026

Ordinary Witnesses

L'Enclos