Hiromi Paper International

Spring 2007 , Volume 13, No. 2

ASHES AND SNOW IN TOKYO
by Hiromi Katayama

Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow, the 4th Exhibition, opened on March 10th at the Nomadic Museum in Odaiba, a waterfront in Tokyo. Ashes and Snow was first revealed to the public at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy during April 2002. This exhibition at the Nomadic Museum, a permanent traveling structure for Ashes and Snow opened on the Hudson River, Pier 54 in New York during March 2005 and then traveled to Santa Monica, California in 2006.

This 56,000 square foot temporary structure is composed of recyclable and reusable materials such as shipping containers and paper tubes. The exhibition consists of more than 50 large scale photographic artworks on custom hand made Washi measuring 11x8 feet. Inside, the unframed artworks were hung from thin cables and suspension rods installed between columns.

I met Gregory ten years ago in 1997 and he asked me to handle producing custom made Washi for his projects. One of the first sizes was 47" x 107", weighing 500g/m2 and made from a mixture of Kozo and pulp for his main photographic images of animals and man. For the portfolio, a Gampi-Mitsumata mixture was used and extra thick Gampi for the books.

The challenge came last year to create the paper weighing 430g/m2, measuring 95"x200" and made with 50% Sulphite Pulp. Some paper makers have created Washi of this scale but no one has made this thickness due to the difficult process of drying it with regular technology. The weight of the wet pulp can cause the sheet to slide off and to create a drying board of that scale in one piece so there are no marks from the boards being put together is time consuming. In the Tokyo installation, you'll see all 50 images are printed on these largest Washi Sepia Tone in a distinctive process.

Gregory who calls animals "nature's living masterpiece" captures extraordinary moments of contact between man, animal and nature. His artwork focuses on : the crises of endangered species, indigenous people and the interaction of animals and people in nature. The tradition of handmade Japanese Washi is in danger of becoming extinct. I hope Gregory's work has helped to revitalize a renaissance in the world of Japanese papermaking. One of the major concerns in the paper and pulp industry is the destruction of the forest. The process of making materials for Washi involves only cutting of the branches while leaving the roots so that the plant can regenerate. Washi has always been made to avoid the destruction of trees, far before the current trend towards "environmentally friendly" products.