‘At the Promised Place: Expanding Imagination Through Book Art’ at the Urawa Art Museum brings together nearly 100 artists’ bookworks made in Japan and the UK. Since opening in 2000, Urawa Art Museum in Saitama, Japan has focused on ‘Art of Books’ as their collection policy to build a unique and international collection of book related artworks.

For this exhibition, artists’ books selected by Sarah Bodman at the University of the West of England, Bristol have been carefully paired with a range of Japanese bookworks from the museum collection. The exhibition offers a site of conversation where not only the books from the two countries are in dialogue, but the visitors too are welcomed into the space to extend their imaginations around what book art is and can be.

Exhibiting artists: Noriko Ambe, Karen Babayan, Roelof Bakker, Guy Begbie, Kate Bernstein, Les Bicknell, Guy Bigland, Sarah Bodman, Tracey Bush, Angie Butler, Nancy Campbell, Angus Carlyle, Chrystal Cherniwchan, Jackie Chettur, Egidija Čiricaitė, Helen Douglas, David Faithfull, Keiko Fujii, Naoyo Fukuda, Robert Good, Noëlle Griffiths, Warren Harper, Gabriella Hirst, Kosai Hori, Jane Hyslop, Susan Johanknecht, Julie Johnstone, Mitsuo Kano, Hitoshi Karasawa, Etsutomu Kashihara, Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Déirdre Kelly, Nobuo Kurosu, U-fan Lee, Sophie Loss, Imi Maufe, John McDowall, Hiroshi Nakamura, Hiroshi Nakao, Yohei Nishimura, Alastair R. Noble, Michael O’Shea, Tsunao Okumura, Kazuhide Omi, Kouseki Ono, Yasutomo Ota, Sumi Perera, Richard Roberts, Stevie Ronnie, Colin Sackett, Lucy May Schofield, Mieko Shiomi, Tim Shore, Thomas Sowden, Craig Tattersall, Finlay Taylor, Ramon Todo, Asako Tokitsu, Nathan Walker, Aiko Yamada.

This exhibition is the first in a series of events developed in partnership with the Urawa Art Museum, Japan, the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK and the University of Southampton, UK. The next event is an exhibition Folding Space: Japanese and UK Artists’ Books, 30th January – 28th March 2026, The Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art, UK.

Many thanks to: Noriko Suzuki-Bosco of Winchester School of Art and curators Seiji Shinohara at Ashikaga Museum of Art and Akiko Takiguchi at Urawa Art Museum.

Urawa Art Museum
3F Urawa Century City, 2-5-1 Naka-cho, Urawa-ku, Saitama-shi, Saitama 336-0062, Japan.

Full schedule of related events:

• At the Promised Place: Expanding Imagination Through Book Art
Urawa Art Museum, Saitama, Japan
15 November 2025 – 18 January 2026

• Folding Space: Japanese and UK Artists’ Books
The Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art, UK
30 January – 28 March 2026

• Into the Fold: Artist’s Book Fair
Winchester School of Art Library, UK
6-7 March 2026

• BABE: Looking East – Artist’s Book Fair
UWE Bristol City Campus, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
26-27 June 2026