Celestial Observations is a drawing project developed through sustained observation of the sky. The works engage with transient events including eclipses, meteor radiants, stars, moonlight, and the moon as seen through fog or daylight. Executed in natural indigo dye on washi paper, the drawings explore how subtle changes in celestial and atmospheric conditions become perceptible over time.

The project develops from two bodies of work I began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic Moon Almanac, begun on the first day of lockdown in New York, records 904 consecutive nights through daily drawings of the moon’s specific phase in graphite and pure silver powder on indigo-dyed paper. During the same period, I created A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words, later published by the MIT Press as Water of the Sky: A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words. Both projects examine how close attention can reveal distinctions within phenomena that are continually changing.

In Celestial Observations, indigo functions as both medium and measure of duration. The longer the dye permeates the paper, the deeper its blue. Time is therefore registered directly in the material, with lighter tones corresponding to shorter intervals and darker tones to longer spans of time.