Sumingashi

2025

Watercolors painted with thawed ice age snow.

This series of paintings are created using water drawn from ancient ice cores retrieved from depths  of Antarctica, holding traces of Earth’s atmosphere from a thousand years ago.

Using the Suminagashi technique—an ancient Japanese art of “ink floating”—the water is gently guided across the surface, allowing ink to drift and expand organically. The resulting images resemble ethereal landscapes, fluid and ever-shifting. The ancient ice subtly influences the flow of the painting, shaping the movement of ink and water in ways that echo the natural forces of the Earth. The fluid forms evoke melting glaciers, flowing rivers, and atmospheric currents, offering a reflection on the accelerating changes that are reshaping our world.