Single-channel video, two-channel sound, 2014

Sumida Colours (2014) is a single-channel video, two-channel sound work created whilst staying in the Sumida-ku area of Tokyo in August 2014. Inspired by the work of Hokusai (who was born in Sumida-ku) I made a colour chart of six colours selected from the palette of Hokusai’s woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. I then walked around the streets of Sumida-ku, taking a photograph each time I saw one of these colours. The colours provided a method for structuring my exploration and representation of the urban landscape.

For the video, I edited the resulting series of 60 photographs, sequenced in the order they were taken and each one faded into the next. For the soundtrack, I assigned each of the six colours to a musical note and produced a score based on the order the colours appear. I played this score on electric guitar, analogue and digital synthesizers, chimes and bells, blended with environmental sounds recorded on the street named after the artist, Hokusai-dori.

An alternate version of the audio from this work later became the title track for my 2021 album of the same name.

Sumida Colours was included in the exhibition Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai and Hiroshige at The Whitworth, Manchester, UK (14 March – 15 November 2026).