Saburo Ota is an Artist based on Tsuyama City in Okayama, Japan. Ota has produced many series groping for a definition of memory, time and place. Such as Date Stamp series which is a collection of franked stamps he has sent to himself everyday to keep a record on where he was, or Seed Project series that he has gathered plant seeds on the green field everyday for more than 30 years and made a stamp with it.
Ota's significant work Papers is 365 letters in total which is made from newspapers published in 2011 when the Great East Earthquake happend. Those plain gray letters have silent but still powerful statement as if they spoke for us after at a loss for words in the face of the catastrophe.
Ota's works has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Asia and Europe such as Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Haus am Waldsee, Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale 2003, Kyoto Art Centre, and is also in the collections such as the Japan Foundation, Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.