Paths

Paths brings together three conversations emerging from an ongoing exchange that began in 2023 between Liverpool-based artists Penny Davenport and Jason Thompson, and Kyoto-based artist Elena Tutatchikova. The book opens with a reflection on an attempted online collaboration involving walking and dialogue, which for some reason never quite came together. The attempt eventually gave way to what had already been taking place between the artists – simply talking with one another. From there, the conversations unfold into the formative experiences underlying each artist’s creative practice, leading to a reconsideration of the foundations of artistic making itself. ‘We kind of live in our imaginations. Memories are created in the mind – you don’t just watch and record. You use your imagination to rebuild things, to relive them. You’re re-creating them every time you remember. [...] That’s when we’re truly alive – when we’re using our imagination in the act of making. That’s when joy and desire come together.’ — Jason Thompson, pp. 104–105 Throughout the conversations, words such as ‘paths’, ‘joy’, ‘desire’, and ‘imagination’ reappear in shifting forms, as thought develops in spiralling movements. Reflections on the works of William Blake, John Berger and Werner Herzog further deepen these layered exchanges. The conversations themselves gradually emerge as a creative act, drawing readers into the very site of thought and making. Published as a bilingual English–Japanese edition (Japanese translation by Elena Tutatchikova), the book also includes photographs of the three artists’ studios alongside new works. As different dimensions intersect and resonate with one another, Paths invites readers to wander through an expanding landscape of thought.