Artwork: Moon over the Pines - An archival reflection on quiet moments "Paper screens catch the silhouette of pine needles, dancing to a song only the night sky knows. Pinch. Flicker. Pour. They say good fortune is hard to find— but look at this table. Look at the moon, sitting quietly on the garden floor. Tell me... what else could a searching soul possibly ask for?" Inspired by Ryūryūkyo Shinsai's Lidded Lacquer Bowl and Sake Ewer for a New Year Celebration from The Met Galley About the Original piece:

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai was a distinguished pupil of the celebrated ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai. Active during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Shinsai specialized in still-life surimono—privately commissioned, small-run woodblock prints. Back then, and arguably now too, the New Year was one of the most important holidays on the calendar, filled with rich tradition, renewal, and symbolic foods, something that is core to this piece.

Shinsai's composition in "Lidded Lacquer Bowl and Sake Ewer for a New Year Celebration" brings together the tradition of using lacquerware dishes[tiered lacquer boxes (jūbako) or lidded bowls (owan)] which usually held Osechi-ryori—a collection of auspicious foods prepared prior to New Year's Day so that families would not need to cook during the first three days of the new year and the Sake Ewer (Chōshi) for pouring O-toso (spiced medicinal sake), believed to flush out the previous year's ailments and grant good health and long life to the entire family for the coming year.

The entire piece for me was reminiscent of what one wishes for a new year; peace, good health, longevity and happiness and It made me think of how despite the passage of time, this is still so today. This is what inspired my art piece. A representative journey of all these moments reflected via changing seasons and time. The Lacquer tableware set from the original piece as the central point to show the turns of time and the poem as a reflective description of both the inspiration of my piece and what the original piece was in essence.