Painting with Water

I stayed with my partner in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. He had to work on the weekdays and so I found myself alone in his apartment for the first couple days of my trip. I felt afraid to leave the flat, being overwhelmed both by the language barrier and how different things were from back home.

By day 3 I got tired of staying inside all day watching Chinese television, and finally worked up the nerve to venture out for a walk. I crept down three flights of stairs and hesitated at the threshold of the cinderblock building. The noise of traffic and people shouting rang in my ears. The humid air was permeated with the scents of wet laundry, wood smoke and star anise. To my right a crowd had gathered, and my curiosity overtook my fear. I took a deep breath and stepped out into the milieu.

At the center of the crowd was an artist painting with water on the sidewalk. He was dipping a large, shovel-sized paintbrush into a bucket of water and painting figures and animals that would quickly disappear. He asked a little girl in the crowd to step forward, and began painting her likeness. Before this gorgeous portrait could evaporate into the thick air, I captured it with my camera.