Introduction

At some point during my childhood, I was introduced to a simple pattern which can be generated with an easy sequence of steps and which produces startlingly beautiful patterns. I used to doodle it on my notebooks during classes in high school and college.

During the pandemic, I heard about Hagoromo chalk, which is (supposedly) raved about by mathematicians for being the ultimate tool of their trade. Hagoromo is to chalk as Stradivarius is to the violin. Luckily Hagoromo is reasonably affordable by the common man, so I bought some of it and a chalkboard to try it out. It was indeed remarkable stuff.

This was the pandemic, so I had tons of free time; I began to draw the geomoetric pattern on the chalkboard using the Hagoromo. The addition of color, which I had not previously seen (I used single colors in my notebook doodles), put a very compelling new dimension into the artwork.

I only have one chalkboard, so each completed piece has to be erased in order to create the next one. That makes these reminiscent of the sand mandalas created by some Buddhist monks. They work for days and days crafting a beautiful piece of artwork, and then destroy it. The Buddhist version is a profound message about impermanence; mine is a bit less so, since I take pictures of them. Still, people who visit the sand mandalas while they’re being made are allowed to take pictures, so how different is it really? Does the picture preserve it?