Textile Memory - The World of BORO

Atsukobarouh Arts Drinks Talk

Finished

Artists

Genta Honnou, Maki Ueda

There was a time when textiles were precious goods. Actually, a time not so long ago. Yarns were spun and woven together by hand. And yet not everyone could get his or her hands on bigger pieces of fabric. So one had to make do with what one had and sew fabric scraps together to make clothes to wear or futons to sleep on. That’s what you find in the BORO collection: textiles that were handed from one generation to the next, with seams having been mended here and holes having been patched with smaller pieces of fabric there. You will be surprised by how vibrant, how full of life these textiles are, just as designers at Louis Vuitton, COMME des GARÇONS and KAPTIAL - all inspired by BORO - have been. Neither artworks nor fashion, these textiles, as they now exist in front of us, were born out of necessity. As was their design. That is what makes them so convincing, so real. They give us access to an idea of beauty and aesthetic pleasures different from textiles produced for the aristocracy or the wealthy. In times such as ours, where money is being pumped into the redevelopment of Tokyo ahead of the Olympic Games, but not in support of earthquake survivors, where the country’s leaders cheerfully buy weapons of mass destruction, we might take a look back at our roots. Wasn’t it textiles like these that our grandmothers and great grandmothers, 50, 60 years ago, there in the dark, silently sewed, mended, patched after we went to bed? Where is Japan heading? Is our way of life right the way it is? That’s what we should ask these textiles.

Schedule

Mar 3 (Sat) 2018-Apr 1 (Sun) 2018