Cape Town-based calligrapher Andrew van der Merwe calls himself the “world’s first beach calligrapher” and he creates beautiful writings on sandy beaches.
Describing his work as “very temporal”, he said that his works last “no more than an hour before it is taken by the wind or the tide”.
To create his ‘temporal works’, van der Merwe uses special instruments and techniques to carve the letters in the sand. Once finished, he photographs them with a camera—leaving no footprints behind.
“Most of the forms used here draw their inspiration from African writing systems, but in some instances, I have moved on from there and found myself playing with variations of a particular movement—pretty much like a musician might play with variations on a theme,” said van der Merwe.
“I have 20 years experience as a calligrapher but the most difficult aspect of the work remains the calligraphy,” he added. “Any calligrapher worth his or her salt will understand this. Even wordless writing must have a logic, a system of movement, a poetry.”
Check out some of his awesome works below:
[via My Modern Met and Andrew van der Merwe]