A Quintology of Diaries is the most ambitious book project to date by the Swiss artist and photographer Ferit Kuyas. Presented as a beautifully produced slipcased set of five books it reveals astute social and personal observation through photographs and text as Kuyas explores the trivial things in life that make us not only human but also interesting. He examines his own past through objects and stories that tell of identity and change. Each volume offers up a different approach in its exploration of the many facets of life. Bill Kouwenhoven, who provides a key introduction to the work, likens it to a Cabinet of Curiosities and with titles such as “Fifty Objects and Some Things I Haven’t Touched in Five Years” and “Everything You Didn’t Want to Know about Me”, it is clear that the sense of the collector is paramount. The journey that Kuyas travels is a bittersweet one. Each item within his collections is imbued with personal experience and in this disection of a life we see not only moments of great warmth but also of regret. It is as if we are being invited in to read his private diaries and the openess he shows is both compelling and something that we can all relate to. Time has the power to clarify the past, and as Kuyas rummages through his memories he discovers something life-affirming in the process. It is a voyage so human, so known; a voyage that only he has travelled but which we all share.