Akiko Takesue, Bishop White Committee Associate Curator of Japanese Art & Culture
Greg Kelley, Furniture Conservator, Cultural Heritage Conservation and Field Unit Liaison, Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Heritage Directorate, Parks Canada
Bridging art and science, art historian Akiko Takesue and conservator Greg Kelly discuss the impact of wood identification on culture, biodiversity, and global economy.
Using a 1,000-year-old wooden object- a statue of a Shinto female deity - from ROM’s Japanese collection as an example, they explore the importance of identifying materials for a better understanding of provenance and historical context surrounding an object’s creation. Beyond provenance and context, wood identification is also essential in contributing to the control of the illegal lumber trade, which continues to threaten the planet’s biodiversity.