Material Witness presents Saya Kubota’s new bodies of works around memory and physical traces of the past which, although they have seemingly altered in form or even to have disappeared, still persist in the present time and space. From modified paintings to an unusual postal service, they signal what their material existences might have witnessed. The solo exhibition at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation will present her two different bodies of works: Material Witness and the Missing Post Office UK.

Dilapidated portraitures and abandoned objects, all items which were once cherished, are perceived as material images of art by Kubota’s hands. The artist overlaps the work of the original makers with her creative input, such that eyes are masked with fractal stones that disperse lights; multicultural icons of female saints are overlaid on each other; and binoculars are embellished and anthropomorphised as a potential extension of the human body.

Imaginations and memories kept afloat will be collected in the post boxes of the Missing Post Office UK. Missing Post Office (MPO) looks after letters you’ve always wanted to write but did not know where to send. While awaiting delivery to an unknown destination, the letters are left to drift, floating in a liminal space in the care of this unusual postal service. MPO invites visitors to read the collected letters, or even post their own, at this UK branch.

Originally opened on the small island of Awashima in Japan as part of Setouchi Triennale in 2013, the MPO in Japan has so far received more than 10,000 letters.

The exhibition is curated by Eiko Honda