‘Promissory Estoppel’ is a 5-channel video installation that depicts myriad blank paper ‘banknotes’ falling in slow motion against a black void. As the atonal rhythmic soundtrack grows in intensity, these ‘empty promises’ of currency burst into flame, leaving trails of ash and smoke before restarting their cycle. The work was constructed using highly labour-intensive processes of high-speed videography and digital compositing to capture and collage together each of the individually hand-cut banknotes. Displayed on a panorama of screens, the work creates the spatial understanding of the entire scene as a façade. This work expresses and explores the sense of economic and social precarity central to the lived experience of late capitalism. While the imagery in the work reflects on money’s literal and symbolic function as a promise of the state, its title makes reference to a legal principle that apportions blame when one party relies on a promise made by the other to their ultimate detriment. In the combination of these elements and references, the work creates opportunity for the viewer to experientially reflect on their position within an economic and political system that paradoxically relies on promise and confidence, but also cycles between boom and bust.