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Yo-yo Ma first found out about us when he saw our work one time when
he was in Kyoto. We were lucky enough to have a chance to talk about the
traditional and innovative, as well as the Japanese and Western, aspects
of washi, and new possibilities in music and stage decoration. We both
deeply shared the feeling that the role of the artist is to go beyond his
or her own field, passing tradition on to new generations while developing
it further, and to connect cultural networks from place to place.
It took two months to complete the 15m x 4m washi piece with the cooperation
of ten workmen and designers. The shadows of the fibers made into the paper
express the searing expanse of dunes along the Silk Road, the crossroads
between East and West, people and culture. The three circles placed in
the center symbolize exchange between the three time periods of the past,
the present, and the future. |
