Three Girls by River, with poems by Hōjō Hanasaku, Karasaki Yau, Kasa no Emori, Arigadō Kotonaru, Seikarō Mimikaze, Wakamizu Kumiko, Karasaki Matsukaze and Karakoromo KishÅ« Possibly 1800

Curator: This print, attributed to Hokusai, is called "Three Girls by River, with poems". It's a delicate rendering on paper. So many voices here, not just visual! Editor: It has this quiet, almost melancholic feel to me. A sense of being caught between worlds. The figures seem so softly rendered, as if they could dissolve into the landscape. Curator: It’s interesting you say that. These women, framed by the bridge and adorned with poems by Hōjō Hanasaku and others, seem to exist in this liminal space between nature and culture, tradition and individuality. How do we interpret their stillness? Editor: Perhaps the poems offer a clue? These women, they're not just figures, right? They're vessels holding histories, struggles, a chorus of unheard stories. It's a scene of female resilience and complicity, but also exclusion. Curator: Absolutely. They embody a certain quiet strength, a resistance to being defined solely by their roles. They are actively constructing their own narratives. Editor: It's a print that makes you question, doesn't it? Who gets to tell the stories? Who is seen and who is erased? Curator: Exactly! The confluence of image and text invites us to consider the many layers of meaning embedded within the lives of these women. Editor: That's why this piece stays with you. It invites dialogue, demanding we listen to these silent voices.