Water Path
2023, Watercolor-dyed paper, acrylic box, 51 x 98 x 63-106 in (site-specific installation)
I have been deeply drawn to the cyclical nature of life and the world around us. Water, which reacts and changes in response to its surroundings, resembles the nature of our lives. In my time-based installations, water moves slowly and delicately, leaving traces as it evaporates, breathing with the viewer, and transforming into different forms.
The world reveals its true beauty when everything moves at its own pace. Every being has its own rhythm, and my work reflects the harmony that emerges when these rhythms are allowed to follow their natural flow. Water Path began with honoring these different rhythms.
Water Path is made with paper threads that I cut, twist, and weave by hand. When placed in water, the threads slowly draw pigment upward through their fibers. The color rises at different speeds and stops at different points, shaped by gravity, the thickness and density of the paper threads, and environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Rather than controlling the image, I allow the material and water to determine the final form, revealing a quiet beauty that emerges when each element follows its own pace.
There is a downward staircase in the middle of the space. Small movements occur with people passing through the work. Just as I witnessed the speed of the world during the time of solitude, I wanted people to experience the speed and energy created by water in a still space which seems to lead to another dimension. They meet Inner Water Path at the end of the stairs.