This book project I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE MY FATHER continues my long-term work with the book as a physical and psychological object. The book consists of 1000 pages and has the same format as my previous project > 1000 HEADS, measuring 22 × 30.5 cm and weighing approximately 7 kg. It exists as a single physical copy. While the form remains unchanged, the content does not.
Each page contains a handwritten sentence beginning with “I don’t want to be like my father…”, followed by a specific trait or behavior. The sentence structure stays the same throughout the book, but the attributes change from page to page.
The project comes from long-term anger toward my father, who is no longer alive, and from a need to confront this relationship without explanation, storytelling, or reconciliation. Instead of describing the past or the relationship itself, the book focuses on refusal. The father is not presented as a character or a person, but as a set of behaviors to be rejected.
Each page names a different trait, such as alcoholism, selfishness, violence, emotional absence, or avoidance of responsibility. The book does not tell a story and does not move toward a conclusion. It accumulates. The fixed form of the book contrasts with the changing content of each page.
Every sentence was written by hand. Each trait was chosen individually, not repeated automatically. The work required time, physical effort, and sustained attention. Writing was used as a controlled action rather than as self-expression.
The repeated sentence creates a stable framework, while the changing traits introduce difference. This breaks the father figure into separate behaviors instead of presenting him as a single dominant image. The book does not try to resolve the relationship. It isolates and contains it.
After the book was completed, it was burned. The burning was a deliberate gesture and a final part of the project. By destroying the object, the process was closed. What remains is the act itself, not the book