Water Calligraphy

 

2026

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Department of Visual Arts, Western University

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In the series, “Water Calligraphy,” I write Chinese texts on Xuan paper, including ancient poems I learned from my childhood, using a traditional Chinese paint brush and water I collected from melted snow. The characters are visible when the paper is wet, but gradually disappear when it dries, leaving only faint remnants of characters on the wrinkled paper. Writing with brush and ink on Xuan paper, is a conventional form of Chinese calligraphy, which has no practical use in modern daily life, although, for thousands of years, it is regarded as one of the six classic art forms in Chinese tradition. Furthermore, water carries significant meanings in Chinese culture: rain and snow, which fall from the sky, are called rootless water, a term reflecting immigrants’ dislocation from their home country.

As part of my continual exploration of cultural translation and negotiation, “Water Calligraphy” series transcends temporal and geographic boundaries, connecting past and present in the “in-betweenness.”