Working outdoors expands the reach and impact of an image. It allows the public to see the process, not just the result, and to experience its inevitable loss. The ephemeral nature of the work evokes various emotions in a western society groomed on the timelessness of art. The passers-by often express regret over the piece’s eventual loss and implicit recognition of its value. Such regret is never associated with, let’s say, a musical or theatrical performance, where the direct experience of the audience is enough. The chalk pieces can be ever renewed and ever unique, like the natural beauty of the passing seasons.

Unknowingly, I had tapped into the longest tradition of art made by women, the kōlam. Practiced for centuries in India, the kōlam is made using only the artist’s fingers drizzling rice flour always in symmetrical geometric abstract forms in front of homes and business spaces. The kōlam are visual prayers, and are walked over all day every day, and gone by day’s end. Much like them, my chalk drawings celebrate both the act of sharing a gift freely with everyone and the ephemeral nature of beauty, no matter how hard we may try to preserve it. In the east, art is not just for looking at – art is intended to do something. Have a daily practice. With internal purpose.