Description
Sometimes a Bridge presents a poem written by the artist in English and translated to Japanese. The letters and characters are installed on the floor. They are made of cast paper, each raised off the floor with a tripod of pins. The Japanese text runs vertically through the horizontal English text, which reads: Some days a wall / some days a bridge / the words between us.
Statement
Sometimes a Bridge 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 was the focus of the residency.
The poem was translated from French into Japanese by Masashi Ogura. Through 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.
Karen Trask, 2014