In early childhood, before we begin to speak and use language, our brains learn to calculate, categorize, compare and contrast. We engage with abstraction from early on – differentiating between a circle, a square, a triangle, moving colored beads along spiraling wires, assembling pieces together to form a greater whole. I have long been interested in the human impulse to categorize, classify and organize knowledge. The relationship between ‘neutral’ mathematical units of time (the hour, the week, the month, etc.) and human life, which is by definition narrative, emotional and chaotic, is also central to my practice. System are structures that serve to reassure us, giving us routines and a common framework, but they can also alienate us, setting up expectations for productivity and predefined occasions for rewards.