Japan Water, GroundWork Gallery’s Spring 2021 exhibition. 14 April - 31 July. Wednesdays to Saturdays 11-4.

The artists in GroundWork Gallery’s Spring exhibition, Japan Water take us on a journey into the significance of water in Japanese art and culture. Water is important for Japan’s economy and indeed its survival. Tea, sake, rice, fish, handmade paper, hot baths: so many keystones of the Japanese way of life depend on clean, pure water. However, water is also under attack and nowhere more so than in Japan, where the 2011 earthquake and tsunami led to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant leaking radioactive material into the sea, and where for decades acid rain has polluted rice farms and forests on the north west coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island. Works in this exhibition tackle each aspect of the subject of water, from purity to pollution, from calm to turbulence.

Artists include: Nana Shiomi, Lisa Keiko Kirton, Isao Miura, Jonathan Meuli, Hakan Topal, Shizuka Tatsuno.

Events

Friday 21st May: The Purity of Water. Starting from ideas around the art in the exhibition Japan Water, this is a conference and discussion looking at water purity and threats to it. An on-line event from 2-6. Speakers include Nana Shiomi, (exhibiting artist) Isao Miura (exhibiting artist), Veronica Strang (University of Durham, author of The Meaning of Water) , Jonah Tosney (Norfolk Rivers Trust) Louise Bleach (Desolenator)

Friday 25th June: The Power of Water. Starting from ideas around the art in the exhibition Japan Water, this is a conference and discussion looking at the power of water and how it can become a threat. A live event in King's Lynn, simultaneously on-line, from 2-6. Speakers include Veronica Strang (University of Durham, author of The Meaning of Water), Hakan Topal (artist), Jonathan Meuli (artist) Simon Kaner (SISJAC, Norwich) Makoto Takahashi (Technical University Munich)