Scene uit het Noh theaterstuk Tsuchigumo. Possibly 1902

Tsukioka Kôgyo created this print of a scene from the Noh theatre play Tsuchigumo. Imagine Kôgyo, carefully carving each line into the woodblock, the quiet concentration, the dance between control and letting go. The web almost shimmers, caught in the light, each strand a testament to patience. I can almost feel the tension of that moment – the spidery figure suspended, a splash of green and purple against the stark background, poised, reaching out and those two warriors ready to pounce! Maybe Kôgyo was thinking about how we all get caught in webs of our own making, ensnared by our fears and desires? These artists, they're always in conversation, aren't they? Echoing each other across time and space. I think about how we see and how the making of something can open up a space of possibility, where ambiguity and uncertainty become the very things that give the work its power. It's not about answers; it's about the questions, the feeling, the sheer, beautiful mess of it all.