Old horizontal calligraphy mounted sidewise.

天長地久

Heaven and Earth Endure

The quote is from Lao Tzu. This was originally an unmounted horizontal piece of calligraphy. I could tell from the holes that it had been thumbtacked up somewhere for a long time. I decided to mount it vertically—in order to make the characters look more like abstract designs. I realized that many friends who do not read Chinese or Japanese are able to appreciate calligraphy sheerly for the design--whereas my left brain impulse is to immediately start thinking about meaning. This unconventional mounting helps me appreciate the characters in a different way.

(Several years later, this lead to The Innocent Eye project.)

The proper orientation would be 90 degrees counter-clockwise, reading from the right.

The mounting silk is from a sari, with the border design used for the ichimonji strips at the top and bottom of the work.