When, Museum of Rural Life, Reading,

March 17th – June 14th, 2026

Tree Ring (2026),

Suminagashi marbling: water, marbling ink on Shogi 32 gsm Kozo paper. 

750*967mm     

How do we perceive time? Is it distorted as when we view things through water? Does it refract and bend?

This large print explores the ethereal nature of time through the monochrome rings of an age-old traditional Japanese marbling technique called Suminagashi ink marbling that, unlike European marbling, forms concentric rings – not unlike the rings of a tree that tell us how old it was before it was cut down.  

The tree ring is such a strong visual symbol of time taught first at primary school that everyone is familiar with. I could have produced a similar image through frottage or rubbing of an actual tree ring, but I wanted the image to be at least twice removed from the reality.

Time is never that clear and can be perceived to slow down and speed up and is often distorted. Through the marbling technique, the representation was distanced through the absence of the object, shifting the focus to process, movement and the ephemeral nature of the present moment. The distortion of water adds to this and the floating image is then captured onto the paper (twice removed).

With experimentation I found that cartridge paper was too heavy – the theme was Time and it looked too solid. I wanted to achieve a more ethereal interpretation of time.

Experiments with words on water lead me on to make a video projection which formed the main part of this exhibition.

Nine Dances, 2026

When, Museum of Rural Life, Reading,

March 17th – June 14th, 2026

Twiggy Witch; Bogland Jig; Black Nag; Beating the Bounds; The Hanging Judge; Mortiford Dragon; Hare of Much Marcle; Blackthorn Wassail, Spring 2026, Kozu paper, Suminagashi ink, gelatine, hot water, drawing ink. each 400*310mm

To accompany the video projection, I took prints of the Suminagashi marbling with the nine names of traditional dances used in the video as they were close to disappearing. The prints are thereby freezing a dynamic and ephemeral moment in time.