Motoi Yamamoto's 'Floating Garden'

Drawing a labyrinth with salt is like following a trace of my memory.

Memories seem to change and vanish as time goes by; however, 

what I seek is to capture a frozen moment 

that cannot be attained through pictures or writing.

~ Japanese Artist Motoi Yamamoto

This past winter Motoi Yamamoto (b. 1966) created a stunning site-specific saltwork, Floating Garden, as part of the exhibition "Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto" at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The time-lapse short below shows Yamamoto "drawing" the work with salt, which is a symbol of purification and mourning. The installation, begun on February 18, was destroyed in a "community dismantling" at the end of its exhibition on March 3. Event participants were asked to return to a body of salt water the portion of the salt they collected in a specially designed container and to upload documentation of their ceremonial act to the artist's Website. 

See other installations in Yamamoto's beautiful Salt series (found under "works"), as well as video and images of other dismantled installations (under "project"), at the artist's Website. 

Some close-ups of the installation are here.

Other Yamamoto Videos on Vimeo: Saltscapes; Patience, Endurance, and Salt; Return to the Sea Closing Ceremony (Laband Art Gallery, 2012)

Yamamoto Motoi Blog

The Mint Museum on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube