Taiko Chandler - "Formation"

You are currently looking at my artwork, which is titled “Formation.”

The journey for this piece began with my curiosity. When I was invited to participate in this exhibition, I was exploring how to create Momigami. Momigami is a Japanese paper that has been strengthened by kneading – working the paper by hand. To make Momigami, basic Kozo paper has to be treated with Konnyaku (a plant based starch) to strengthen it. It is then manipulated by hand to make it supple. But, compared to Japanese paper, Western machine pressed paper is brittle, so I was not sure whether I could use the same process, but decided to try in order to participate in this exhibit.

I first applied the solution with a wide brush to the surface of the paper and then let the paper dry completely. For the next step, I dampened the paper with water and crumpled it very gently from the edges to the center by hand, little by little. I repeated the process most days over the next couple of months. As I worked the paper, I could see that it gradually became more durable, yet in the areas where I repeated the pressure too often, it sometimes tore. Over time, the paper surface began looking like a magnified image of human skin. 

One day, when I was crumpling the paper with my hands, I noticed that the damp paper was behaving in a way that is similar to paper clay, velvety and tactile. I was excited by the change and created the undulating pattern by pinching the surface of the paper with my thumb and index finger. As I worked spontaneously, the paper transformed again into something new – I began to see the paper as a terrain, with plains, mountains, valleys, rivers, and so on. 

As I sat with the piece longer, I wanted to emphasize the details and create some contrast. I chose graphite because of the reflection is gives when light is shone on it, which I thought introduced some ambiguity to the piece. The process was intimate, given the extent that I worked the paper by hand, but I could not imagine how the piece would end up. During the process, a sense of place became central to the work. I remembered various places that are meaningful to me, where I was born, grew up, and have traveled. Now, whenever I look at the work, I think about the condition of our planet, and how it will change in the future.

Thank you for spending some time with my art.