Egypt to Edo

2021 marks 100 years since the opening of Tutankhamun’s  tomb.  I have worked on three themes in honour of this – Tutankhamun and Lotus speak for themselves but Usekh was the form of collar worn by Ancient Egyptian deities.

Shortly after Japan opened up to the West in the 1850’s my great grandfather began his work there as a tea inspector, then entrepreneur.  He built a home in Nagasaki which still stands today. The small building is designated as “An important cultural property” and stands in the Glover garden beside the Madame Butterfly Museum. The woodblock prints from that house now hang on my walls as do a small collection of lacquered panels and it is these which prompted my Urushi and Hokusai designs.