Hydronym Drawings Series (2017- in process)
I collect data on the length of rivers that cross various countries and the distribution of their borders. I make pie charts with this information and then transfer them to the paper or wood to serve as the basis for the paintings. I mix two ancient water painting techniques -the Japanese Suminaggashi, and the Ebru from Turkey- that allows me to emphasize the free and uncontrollable nature of the water courses. Each work is unique, since the pattern produced by immersing the paper or wood in the water is never repeated. The result depends on the way the pigments make contact with the liquid surface and the traces produced by me by causing waves on it.
A hydronym (from the Greek ὕδωρ hydor, 'water', and oνομα ōnoma, 'name') is the proper noun by which a body of water is designated. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and how water bodies get their name and they are transmitted throughout history.
In this series of paintings, the names of the rivers are a metaphor for the divided world that we have built. The idea that a single watercourse is culturally assimilated in a different way and that even in that diversity there is always a common geographical origin is highly revealing.
Ganges basin II
(India 80%, Bangladesh 4%, Nepal 13%, China 3%)
From the Hydronym Drawings series
Submerged paint on Arches paper 350g
Ø120cm
2020
