In Praise of Shadows

Borrowing the Indigo colour as an evocative symbol of Japanese culture, these works on paper are constructed moments of reflection, contemplation and experience inspired by travelling through Japan.

The works are assembled from collected Japanese ephemera: dockets, museum tickets, coasters, slips and serviettes, wrappings and envelopes, …everyday incidental paper miscellanea, painted and printed on, gently splattered with ink and shaped by the haptic process of cutting and tearing.

“I wanted to identify the poetic potential in everyday interactions and objects. The transactions of everyday life in Japan are recorded, like in most countries, through simple paper receipts and printed dockets, … however, in Japan, there is something beautifully humble that accompanies these exchanges…there is always a bow, a tilt of the head, a moment of consideration, that is expressed as a courtesy in the interchange- a stillness in the intersubjective space.

Intentional, mindful and in the moment.

I am curious about this ‘space between’ , in Japanese culture called ‘Ma’. ’Ma’ is a Japanese aesthetic principle meaning emptiness or absence …but not in a negative sense, or in the absence of something… in a sense a spaciousness, allowing breath and possibility. It is the space between objects, the silence between sounds, the stillness between movements. The space that exists between all things.”

In Praise of Shadows OPENS Saturday 26 September and continues until Saturday 24 October both in store and online. 

Please feel free to discuss payment plans with staff we are happy to help or you can email us at hello@cornerstoremerchants.com to set this up and welcome the opportunity. 

Works will be made available to collect from Tuesday 27 October unless arranged otherwise. 

Unframed works will need to be collected in person at 341 Barker St, Castlemaine OR email us for a freight quote please.