Pak Keung Wan

The Ascent series of wall drawings began in 1994 after spending time camping and walking in Snowdonia National Park in Wales. The idea came from observing the paths and trails which have been walked into the mountainsides.

After preparing the drawing surface each Ascent takes about three days to complete. They are drawn with a single continuous line that begins at the base of the wall and ends at the full height of my reach. The resulting forms are constrained by the physical parameters of my body and are drawn from a position that is maintained throughout the process. The line as a conveyor of time has played a recurring role in my drawings. Here the use of a single line was an attempt to translate a sense of geological time into the fabric of the drawings with each layer evolving to form an imprint of an Ascents own history.

I am always fascinated by the way in which the forms evolve, how the idea of a mountain has become manifest through a physical activity. For me the Ascent drawings are like vestiges of a distant place, of experiences past, but those which are still firmly held within my body.