Boro – The Art of Necessity is a handy and very interesting album about boro – Japanese textiles sewn or darned from pieces of fabric. It was prepared on the occasion of the exhibition in Stockholm and presents both exhibits from Scandinavian museums and a wide selection of works from Chuzaburo Tanaka’s collection. Dozens of items from the 19th and 20th centuries are presented in detailed photographs with brief descriptions, and in addition to the photos, the album includes four short essays about the history of boro, the importance of the technique, and its place in modern Japan.
The collection of Chuzaburo Tanaka collects items from the Aomori prefecture in northern Japan, where in the past mainly poor fishermen and farmers lived, and the repaired clothes represent part of their history and everyday life. As Steffan Appelgran writes in one of his essays, boro is a unique technique also from an anthropological point of view, because it is not often said about art that is created not as an expression of artistic expression, but from purely everyday needs.