INTRODUCTION

This exhibition is comprised of diverse books from the collection in which paper plays the starring role. Consideration is given to books about paper and papermaking; books on the craft or paper, including papercutting / folding, marbling, pulp-painting and watermarking, and books made from handmade or unusual papers that draw attention to their paper-ness upon opening.

The exhibition is divided into several sections starting with Ji Yun-Fei's 8½m-long scroll Three Gorges Dam Migration - in which nearly 500 hand-carved pearwood blocks were used to print impressions on Mulberry paper. Other sections allow the viewer to explore the craft of paper and showcases the work of Claudia Cohen & Barbara Hodgson; watermarks; the recent hand-paper portfolio on the theme of 30 Years of Democracy by the staff of the Department of Visualt, University of Johannesburg; and broadsides. The remaining books on exhibition showcase extraordinary and unusual papers - such as Hanji, Toshaban-genshi, Japon Minota, Kozo etc. - as part of their content.