TIME Day 1 to Day 1000

TIME

TIME is an ongoing art project by Keiko Miyamori that began on October 11, 2021. Although daily updates are shared on Instagram, the project itself is not digital. It is a handmade, physical record of time, memory, and presence, created quietly and carefully in the studio. Each rubbing and glass box is made by hand, with all soldering and assembly done by the artist. In this way, a daily routine is transformed into material form.

The project started when Miyamori’s father, then 97, was scheduled for cancer surgery. From that day on, she began taking two small bark rubbings each morning from the same tree. One of the rubbings is carefully chosen and placed in a handmade glass box. The edges of each box change color with the weather—silver for sun, black for rain, gray for clouds, and white for snow.

TIME unfolds both online and in physical exhibitions. Visitors are invited to select a piece that resonates with them and take it home. When a piece is chosen, the second rubbing from that day takes its place, preserved in a blue glass box. These blue boxes quietly mark moments of connection, memory, and recognition.

Some people choose a piece for its look, but many are drawn to a specific date—one that holds personal meaning, such as a birthday, an anniversary, or a moment of change. Everyone has such a day. Each piece becomes a small vessel for private memory.

Daily photos often include Miyamori’s father, her mother, and their therapy cat Maru, who passed away during the project. Later, a new kitten, Yoji, joined the family. Over time, her father passed away at age 100, and Yoji grew up. Life goes on—with joy and loss, birth and death, peaceful days and troubling times.

TIME began as a way to preserve the final chapter of her family’s life together. But it has grown into a meditative, open-ended archive. It invites us to slow down and reflect on time—not just as something that passes, but as something we live through and learn from. In a world that moves quickly, TIME quietly remains.

The daily Rubbings in Instagram https://www.instagram.com/keiko_miyamori/

TIME in exhibition The Sea of Memories, Rose’s Pride, Nakamuraya Salon Museum, Tokyo, Japan 2023

TIME in exhibition Keiko Miyamori, Kyokusyo Museum, Gifu, Japan 2024

TIME in exhibition Cultivating Time (duo show with Hiroko Matsuo), Gallery MoMo, Tokyo, Japan 2024