Book of Hours /
Junko Ikawa Works & Illuminated Manuscripts

The Book of Hours is a book containing extracts from the Bible and prayer texts that Christians used for their daily prayer. Before the development of printing techniques and the circulation of the paper, in the European Middle Ages, these books were hand-copied on animal skin paper made of sheep or calf skin and richly decorated in the space around the initial letter of a text or the blank space around the text. In this exhibition, the manuscript leaves from the book of hours, which was produced in the Gothic period of the 15th century and originated mainly in France and Italy, will be showcased together with the photographic works of contemporary artist Junko Ikawa.

Ikawa is an artist who carefully places herself in a rift in the real world and creates photographic works inspired by something incomprehensible that appears there. "Here, Now, Anytime" (2003) is filled with light due to darkness, "Babel" (2009-2010) is photographed by piling up a large number of copies of Pieter Bruegel's painting "The Tower of Babel", "All Days Are Nights" (2012-2014), for which shows the border between the ocean and land at dawn, and "Sometime, I… (Paradiso)" (2018 -), which is based on the Paradise Version of Dante's "The Divine Comedy" illustrated by Botticelli. The monochrome world without lyricism strongly affects the sense of light, words, and time of the viewer.

On the other hand, the texture of the parchment, which is peculiar to animal skin, gives off a strong sense of the material. The text, carefully hand-written with a quill and the gorgeous decoration surrounding the initial letter has a silent beauty that does not depend on a specific author.

Seeing a manuscript, particularly one of a prayer itself, around us in this day and age evokes a special feeling. With the development of digital technology, we are living in a world where reading materials are no longer equal to printed paper. At the same time, our society is one in which we live in a flood of words that are read and discarded. When we think about the time when all the reading materials on the streets were copied by human hands over a long period of time, we cannot help but imagine the richness of the time given to them by facing the limited letters and pages.

The passage of time that has flowed through these pages from being opened for each prayer, and the things that would have risen from it, transcends time and space and resonates with the world of work by contemporary artists. Please take this opportunity to see it.

"Leaf from Book of Hours and Photographic Paper"

It was a supple sheet. I was told that I could see the pores on the surface, and I looked between the letters. I could see tiny grains like air bubbles. It was a parchment with prayers written on it. It was also one body, one world.

I drop my eyes on a page from the book of hours and the photographic printing paper. The paper used to be a beast. And then, it used to be a tree. By stretching it thinly, people wrote down their activities. I also follow in their footsteps and walk the same path.

After a few hundred years, leaves of manuscripts and photographic papers appear here piece by piece. Is the edge of a sheet the edge of the world？ Are they floating in an unknown time and space that has nothing to do with human values or the meaning they seek？ People yearn for what they cannot speak about, reaching their hands further and further with their limited bodies and allotted time.

Junko Ikawa

Works by Junko Ikawa

Illuminated Manuscripts