Egyptian Travelogue: Working With Papyrus

What I like about papyrus is its receptivity to blotting, even eviscerating the image and leaving but its ghost. Unfortunately I had no really good rags for rubbing here in Luxor. so I had to use my underwear.



T shirts were less effective than underpants but I could get marvelous effects from both. Hanes proved superior to Calvin Klein.

Gradually my underwear began to take on the look of large, spontaneous watercolors; blotting, pressing and rubbing had left residues of the painted images and I began to wear these cast off garments when I felt lonely.

if you look closely, you will see the original painted images imprinted on Calvin Klein, Hanes and some cheap brand that is undecipherable. even more do these colored shapes come alive when I move (size 34 underpants, medium t shirt and medium tank top).

Working With Papyrus I

Originally I perceived papyrus as a type of Egyptian paper, made from natural fibers even more elemental than its modern cousin. but it gave me a lot of trouble.

I used too much water and the papyrus fibers began to separate. In time I discovered gum arabic as a substitute for water and I was fine

Catching A Boat In The Sky

The deceased were thought to travel in a boat with the sun god. He helped them to face the perils of the underworld, and they were reborn with him each morning.

Diurnal Journal of the Sun

". . . (this picture) tells of the sun's journey across the daytime sky, from the point when it was reborn in the morning from the womb of Nut to the point when it was swallowed again by the goddess at sunset.... The most beautiful scene of the rebirth of the sun is found in the tomb of Ramses VI." —Zahi Hawass

Breathing