Facsimile of the painting on the inside of the foot end of the sarcophagus of Aashyt 2051 BC

Charles K. Wilkinson made this watercolor facsimile of a sarcophagus in, well, who knows when? But look at how he’s picked out the delicate original colors. I imagine him, bent over the sarcophagus, carefully mixing his paints to match the muted greens and creams. What was it like for him to try and recreate something so ancient? To try and understand a world so different from his own? The repeated sandals hanging in a row are so strange and wonderful. Like a surrealist dream. What do they mean? What did they mean to Aashyt? Wilkinson has painstakingly reproduced each one. Each hieroglyph is rendered with such care, like a form of translation through touch. Making a painting is like having a conversation across time. We borrow from the past, transform it, and pass it on. Painting is an ongoing exchange, inspiring new ways of seeing and thinking. It embraces uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings to emerge.