Single-channel video, two-channel audio, 2014

Sumida Colours (2014) is a single-channel video, two-channel audio 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.