One Million Years

Throughout his artistic practice, which ranged from paintings to postcards, On Kawara sought to materialize the passage of time. Resembling a pocket Bible in size and paper material, One Million Years is an artist’s book divided into two volumes: Past, which accounts for the years 998,031 BCE to 1969 CE, and Future, which encompasses 1993 CE to 1,001,992 CE. Each page lists 500 years, so the average human lifespan fits into a mere fraction of a single page. The visually overwhelming series of numbers pushes the human imagination to its limits, attempting to capture the expansiveness of time.