The Paper Path, 紙の道 - Journeys in Japanese Washi

‘The Paper Path – Journeys in Japanese Washi’ brings together Japanese artists Uma Kinoshita, Tsuguo Yanai and Yoshiko Fujinami, US artist Patty Hudak and UK artists Dot Young and Naoko Tagai, whose practices are connected by their close relationship with Japanese Heritage Washi paper, either directly through the material's use or through a knowledge and understanding of its exploration through other mediums. It functions not only as substance, but as a sensibility, a way of thinking, considering how we make, live, understand and respond to our environments. Long valued for its strength and, conversely, its impermanence, the paper exists at the intersection of endurance and fragility. As it travels across geographies, from Japan to the US and the UK, it becomes a quiet carrier of memory and exchange. Through migration, study, and transmission, the intrinsic nature of the material is translated rather than replicated. The exhibition brings together works that echo Japanese Washi’s values through structure, rhythm, abstraction and socio-political reflections in the form of sculpture, photography, drawing and printmaking. It invites viewers into a slowed, sensory encounter, where material, memory and making converge in a shared space of reflection. ‘The Paper Path’ emerges from an ongoing research enquiry by the exhibition’s curator and artist Dot Young into Japanese Washi as both a culturally significant and environmentally sustainable material in the arts.