'Open World', 2007

Nanjing Library, installation view

OPEN WORLD
A tapestry commissioned by the State Government of Victoria to mark the 25th anniversary of sister state ties between the state of Victoria and Jiangsu Province
Permanently housed in the Nanjing Library

"John Young avoids the use of a single pictorial narrative in this work and eludes a precise or circumscribed explanation of his tapestry. Open World may be read as a poem about time, history and cultural identity. The tapestry may be freely experienced on many levels. At some points, depending on his or her own cultural perspective, the viewer may intimately access the work – Chinese calligraphy, the tourist brochure landscapes, an historical reference, a place name. At other points the enigmatic imagery will award each viewer the gift of weaving their own poetry of this Open World."

Jennifer P. Brown
2007