This collection brings together critical and reflective writings that examine the aesthetic and ethical conditions of artistic experience. It bridges theory and encounter, situating art criticism as a form of research into perception, presence, and responsibility within contemporary visual culture.

A corpus of applied criticism and reflective essays tracing the aesthetic, ethical, and metaphysical dimensions of witnessing. Each text serves as fieldwork in the study of presence—where art is not merely observed but endured, and criticism becomes an act of moral proximity to the work itself.

The Canon of Witnesses is the living application of Post-Interpretive Criticism: Twelve essays that don't merely explain the philosophy. They embody it. Each scroll bears witness through restraint, presence, and moral proximity. These aren't reviews, but vigils. Documents of ethical witnessing. Together, they form the official canon, where theory becomes testimony and the critic learns to bow. This is where the light is kept burning.

Diagnostic Reading is a reflective, post-hoc practice within Post-Interpretive Criticism. It offers a set of optional indices for observing how critical language behaves, how it assigns meaning, positions the viewer, exercises restraint, and aligns with institutional discourse. These tools are descriptive rather than prescriptive, intended to support attentive reading after the fact, not to govern writing or determine value.