Essence, Truth, Reality No. 20

Boonmee Sangkhum creates monumental images of miniscule parts of nature, which he carefully observes and records. His images of tiny plants and seeds seem to float in space or emerge from the darkest night.

A devout Buddhist, Sangkhum’s careful attention to natural cycles of life and death reflects the Buddhist understanding of impermanence. He melds his Buddhist practice with his artistic process through the painstaking method of mezzotint printing. To get the rich, dark tones in the print, he must repeatedly roll a metal tool called a rocker on the metal printing plate to create the tiny pits in the surface that hold ink. The process can take months. Sangkhum works on the plates in the forest near his studio outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand, meditating all the while to maintain an uninterrupted focus and mindfulness during the repetitive work.