The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC presents the perceptive and explorative new exhibition Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, on display May 11 - October 9, 2017. Honouring the special significance that written forms hold across many diverse cultures in Asia, the multimedia exhibition will examine how artists have reinterpreted written words as visual expressions. From Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions and Qu’ranic manuscripts, to Afghan graffiti and digital creations from Japan, the texts in many styles represent physical traces of time and space, evoking the ephemeral and eternal.
“All creatures leave traces of themselves as they move through life; but words, whether spoken, written, imagined, or visualized, are traces unique to humans,” explains Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura, MOA Curator, Asia. “Some words disappear, while others remain only in memory or leave physical traces as writing or text. These traces are the theme of the exhibition. In it we explore the powerful duality that emerges when the written word becomes a medium or canvas.”
Traces of Words will take place in the Audain Gallery at MOA where contemporary artworks and Islamic calligraphic works from the Aga Khan Museum will be shared. Other supplementary exhibitions include highlights from the museum’s Asian collection displayed in MOA’s Multiversity Galleries; and throughout the month of May, a satellite exhibition at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC will display Asian materials from the UBC Library Collections.
The combined exhibition represents an enormous diversity of calligraphy, painting, digital and mixed media works. Through paper, silk, clay, woodblock and digital projections, Traces of Words invites visitors to experience and sense the works, and gain an appreciation for the cultural significance of Asian writing beyond reading and writing.
In addition to showcasing written-words-turned-art across Asian cultures and eras, the exhibition aims to reconsider the place of words and writing in a time when the physical trace of words is often obscured by continuous waves of digital media. The exhibition also explores how words mediate our first encounters with different cultures when they appear incomprehensible (i.e. ‘It’s all Greek to me’).
MOA presents Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia
Date: May 11 to October 9, 2017
Opening: May 11, 2017 at 7pm
Address: Museum of Anthropology University of British Columbia 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC
Website: moa.ubc.ca/traces
