Description

Paper pulp couched directly onto the window using a stencil to create letters.

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La pâte à papier est couchée directement sur la fenêtre à l’aide d’un pochoir pour créer des lettres.


Statement

A e i o u, is a site-specific work grouping together all the vowels in the Roman and the Japanese Hiragana alphabets.  This work was part of a series of works presented at the Komagome Contemporary Art Gallery in Tokyo, 2014. It is one of a series of poetry works created during a Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec research and creation residency in Tokyo. Exploring poetry and calligraphy and their relationship to paper, as well as various techniques for manipulating paper, such as shifu (making a thread from a page of paper) were the focus of the residency.

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A e i o u, est une œuvre in situ regroupant toutes les voyelles de l’alphabet romain et de l’alphabet japonais Hiragana. Cette œuvre faisait partie d’une série d’œuvres présentées à la galerie d’art contemporain Komagome à Tokyo, en 2014. Elle fait partie d’une série d’œuvres poétiques créées lors d’une résidence de recherche et de création du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec à Tokyo. L’exploration de la poésie et de la calligraphie et de leur relation avec le papier, ainsi que diverses techniques de manipulation du papier, comme le shifu (fabrication d’un fil à partir d’une page de papier), ont été au centre de la résidence.



Exhibition History

May 23 – June 15, 2014
Description

For her solo exhibition, Kami no Kotoba, Paper Words, Karen Trask presented six sculptural works. All but one of the works was created during the artist’s research and creation residency at the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec studio in Tokyo. The focus of her residency was the exploration of poetry and calligraphy and their relationship with paper, as well as various techniques for manipulating paper, such as Shifu (making a paper thread out of a sheet). This exhibition is a response to that research.

Poetry is at the heart of the exhibition. Four poems by Karen Trask have been translated from French and English into Japanese by Masashi Ogura. With the help of moulding techniques, the words of the poems take physical form in paper – washi made from kozo, the main plant used to produce handmade paper in Japan. The only work that was not created in Japan is a dictionary, completely remade from spun paper.

Statement

For the works Kami no Kotoba, Paper Words I was interested in exploring where language comes from, the origin and evolution of written and spoken words and positing language is a living organism.

Karen Trask, 2025


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