Fluid Boundaries: Water Marbling as Creative-Critical Practice in Transcultural Material Culture

Abstract

This article examines the centuries-old practice of water marbling (known variously as ebru, suminagashi, and paper marbling) as a site of transcultural exchange and a model for creative-critical scholarship. Drawing upon practice-based research methodologies and material culture studies, I propose water marbling as both metaphor and method for understanding how artistic practices move across cultural boundaries while retaining traces of their transmission history. Through analyzing historical documentation, contemporary artistic applications, and pedagogical implementations, this study demonstrates how material art practices embody theoretical concepts of fluidity, hybridity, and cultural memory. The research reveals that water marbling's transcultural journey from East Asia through Islamic cultures to European and North American contexts provides a valuable framework for reconceptualizing creative-critical approaches to both artistic practice and scholarly inquiry. By developing the concept of "liquid aesthetics," this article contributes to emerging conversations about embodied knowledge, material literacy, and transcultural artistic practices in educational contexts. The findings suggest that engaging with traditional material practices like water marbling offers unique opportunities for students to physically experience theoretical concepts related to cultural transmission, textual instability, and aesthetic hybridity.