I was never close to Kaufu. My only memory of him was of buses.

He passed away in 2019, at age 50. At his flat, I discovered what he left behind – CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, comic books and a very large collection of bus-related memorabilia. Miniature bus models, books, news cuttings and photographs of buses filled every corner of his fat and occupied three more mini-storages. I began to obsess about his obsession.

Kaufu is the beginning of a long-term project, a homage to the bus driver uncle I regret never really knowing, and his obsessions. My collage work uses archival images and first-hand leftover materials of his bus magazines, his own photographs and objects in his collection to narrate an imagined story of his afterlife, in-between the end life and reincarnation. My collages also take inspiration from one of Kaufu’s favourite comics Galaxy Express 999, which depicts a steam train flying through the stars.