For my Opus. 2026 and Fugue projects, the central methodology I employ is transform, encompassing the sequential processes of melt, organize, capture, reshape, and burn. I understand these methods not as separate techniques but as stages within a continuous flow, a temporal sequence in which materials, processes, and perception unfold. This approach allows me to engage with the transience of matter and sound, emphasizing the traces left by time and the impermanence of form.

A significant influence on this methodology is the work of photographer Bohnchang Koo, particularly his Soap project. Koo writes, “Things that disappear or gradually fade away have always captivated my attention. Soap, which constantly dissolves, became a subject in my photographs for this very reason. My fascination with soap, never to be dismissed as trivial, likely stems from the traces of time etched into every form that loses its substance.” Like Koo, I am drawn to processes that are inherently temporary. In my work, the flow of music informs an interest in the ephemeral, prompting questions about forms that cannot be held. I seek to make imperceptible sounds tangible by rendering the moment when tones dissipate visible through the transformation of materials such as rosin.

This methodology is also closely tied to how temporality and perception are communicated to the audience. By photographing rosin through multiple stages of transformation, viewers are invited to reflect on subtle shifts in color, texture, and form. This approach resonates with Roland Barthes’ observations in Camera Lucida, in which photography is described as a means to hold onto what has already passed. In my practice, the act of holding through repeated capture represents both a resistance to disappearance and a recognition of its inevitability.

Philosophically, the work engages with Jacques Derrida’s concepts of deconstruction and trace. The rosin and cane exist materially, yet within containers and through transformation they lose their original form and function. The fragments that remain are simultaneously present and absent, inhabiting a space between substance and loss. This liminal state positions the audience to reflect on boundaries between presence and absence, flow and stasis, sound and silence.

By situating my methods within the temporal flow of materials and grounding them in the frameworks of Barthes and Derrida, the practice emphasizes both the ephemeral and the trace. It foregrounds the audience’s perception and reflection, highlighting how transient processes can be communicated and experienced through material transformation.