Tsunami

Inspired by MIT Physics professor Walter Lewin, Tsunami evokes the essence of fragility in our world. Through near picture perfect diagrams and step by step mathematical handholding, Lewin walks students through Newtonian physics with the aid of a chalk board. At the end of the lecture all the concepts and equations are gone- with one swipe of an eraser. Following the Japan earthquake and tsunami, whole cities were similarly wiped away with one stroke. This painting done in egg tempera, black board paint and chalk, depicts Miami and its close proximity to the sea, which like other coastal cities worldwide, can one moment be completely quiescent and the next- cataclysmically catastrophic. The equation on the blackboard is one of Lewin’s equations, the energy in a wave is proportional to the amplitude squared.