This Is not a Mountain Series | Clamshell White

This Is not a Mountain explores the idea of what a mountain means to our civilization by depicting an island in the North Pacific over a five-year period.

The title This Is not a Mountain is inspired by a Buddhist classic text by the Zen Buddhist monk Qingyuan Xingsi (660-740) from the Tang dynasty. This series further expands the original meaning of this classic text into examining our relationship with a mountain in a contemporary context and situation.

The use of instant film and different painting techniques, including western watercolor and East Asian ink wash painting, represents observations of this mountain subject on either instant film or a watercolor postcard.

This collection Clamshell White references East Asian painting colors and techniques. Clamshell powder was a pigment commonly used in traditional East Asian brush paintings for white.

During the five years of field observations, a mountain serves many purposes for the benefits of civilization. A mountain is inspiration, a getaway, trails, roads, human settlements for good views, land developments, natural resources for woodlots and mining, etc.

However, can a mountain just be a mountain for forests and living organisms, without our needs?