【写真】シュヴァーブ・トム／ジョン・アイナーセン／ジョン・チョイ／【工芸】中川周士／and more

【photograph】Tomas Svab／John Einarsen／John Choy／【Crafts】Shuji Nakagawa／and more

This exhibition incorporates handcrafted Japanese okeh and photographs. The okeh is made with such precision that it can easily hold water. With this ability to contain, to define a space, the vessel can stand in as a symbol for human perception creating two realms separated by the vessel walls. Within it lies the entire Universe, but on the outside is something that can neither be defined or known, the inaccessible. The vessel’s inner space is where we can protect, accumulate and transform its contents. This is the basis of craft, where function is extracted from nature through the use of technology. But as objects the okeh also convey a sense of the unknowable through their beauty, which becomes a reminder of our own untapped potential as we go about our daily tasks. In the photograph beauty and utility are also intertwined. The primary tool of photography, a light-sensitive surface, allows us to transform and bring back something from the unknown. As explorers, we can enjoy skimming over the edge of human perception, like a rock skips over the water’s surface, a moment of beauty is catalysed and captured before it again fades into the vastness beyond our reach. With its ability to reach a wide audience and instil compassion, photography has the power to silently cross over and dismantle boundaries.