SHANSHAN JIANG
Floating Surface Translation
An evolving field-based ink method with water, paper, surface and site
Floating Surface Translation is an evolving field-based ink method developed through my water and surface research. It uses a temporary floating working surface where paper, water, ink, gesture, ripples, pressure and observation meet on site.
The method does not treat water as a landscape motif. Instead, it places image-making within the tension between moving water, unstable surfaces, the artist’s body and the material behaviour of paper and ink.
The method began during field research in Broomhill, Norfolk, where the stream edge became a temporary field studio. Through water samples, field notes, paper contact studies and early floating-surface tests, I began to ask how water could become more than something observed.
These early experiments shifted my practice from painting water as an image to working with water as an active condition in the formation of images.
The process begins with field observation: waterlines, seepage, sediment, pressure, repair and surface contact. These observations are then tested through temporary floating surfaces, paper contact, ink transfer, washing, layering, pressure and erasure. In the studio, selected traces are analysed and developed into painting structures.
In the studio, Floating Surface Translation is refined through contained water tests, paper experiments and ink wash studies. I test how paper contact, water movement, pressure, drying time, absorption and erasure affect the formation of marks.
The studio experiments do not copy the field site directly. They ask which trace mechanisms can become painting structures rather than documentary records.
The method is developed as a non-invasive and contained process. No ink, pigment, paper or other material is released into public water. Where outdoor testing is not appropriate, the method is developed in a controlled studio or gallery setting using clean water.
Related Projects
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Collect but Not Test: Residency in Broomhill
Origin of Floating Surface Translation
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Threshold Index: Glasgow Urban Water Interfaces
Current development of the method through Glasgow’s hidden water systems
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Future direction: Water, Paper and Land