Sand Drawing

Some people believe that drawing pictures into the sand is something for little children only. This is not the case. There are only a few artists globally who create fascinating animations with sand, or who even draw huge images on the world's beaches. We present this extraordinary draftsmanship.

The UNESCO considers sand drawing as a „Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity“. Originally, sand drawing namely served the communication of 80 language groups of the inhabitants of the central and northern islands of Vanuatu. The drawings back then served as mnemonics for rituals, mythological lores and as a wealth of oral information about cosmology, song cycles, farming techniques, architecture, craft, design and choreographic patterns.

Today artists have discovered performative sand drawing for themselves. Drawing with sand is convertible and transitory. There are stories that slip through your fingers. Here, in real-time images and stories are painted by hand that weightlessly float on an illuminated glass plate in a thin layer of sand. This process of drawing is usually recorded from a bird's eye view by a video camera and projected onto a giant screen behind the artist. The audience thus can experience the synthesis of merged scenarios. Most artists play haunting music, to complement their performance.

Something else, however, are the huge artworks by artists who draw their pictures on the beach in the sand. In this art style, there are even worldwide beach art competitions. For example, on the beach in Jersey between England and France such a championship already took place. With a close look, the artworks appear as churned sand. The true beauty can only be seen only from the bird's eye view. The artist customize huge drawings across several square meters. They only use a rake to draw the lines in the sand.

Whether sand drawing performances or beach style competitions - sand art is something very special and just beautiful to look at.