Circleplay

by Asa Featherstone IV

Circleplay is an experimental photographic series inspired by Shawn Okpebholo's composition of the same name. Working across three movements, the project considers time as a circle rather than a line—an accumulation of returns, repetitions, and echoes.

Images recur in altered forms, revisiting familiar gestures, landscapes, and relationships. Moments once thought complete are encountered again, transformed by memory and distance. The work inhabits the space between recognition and change, asking how we carry experiences forward and what happens when they find their way back to us.

Through cycles of departure and return, Circleplay reflects on the rhythms that shape a life: the people we return to, the stories we retell, and the emotions that continue to resonate long after a moment has passed.

Featured in the project titled “Meet in the Middle”, an exhibition full of photographic interpretations of classical music created by Black midwestern composers.