In the Tabula Rasa series, the artists shift the paradigm from decadence to humanity stripped of the trappings of position and indulgence by presenting full-size tile works of humans in a purification moment with water. If the material culture denoted by Unswept Floors explores the ego-driven manifestation of our identity, then Tabula Rasa offers a kind of redemption. The Greek philosopher Thales is invoked in these works for his belief that water is the originating principle of nature, thereby moving humanity away from mythological explanations of nature and change toward a more scientific understanding of self and the soul.

For Lyons and Wilson, however, the physicality of the works is more intervention than statement as they are intended to be part of the interior spaces in which they are experienced. The Unswept Floors series offers actual environments upon or across which one moves and interacts, while the works in Tabula Rasa both engages and confronts the viewer in private moments of contemplation.