Sri Threads Exhibition of Ema

Sri Threads, the Brooklyn gallery which is known for Japanese and Indian textiles, is exhibiting a collection of Ema at Douglas Hyde Gallery (here) in Dublin. Ema are plaques that people made as a ritual gift at Shinto shrines to represent a prayer or request. I like the simple materials used in creating these works, and the directness of the subject matter. I wonder who collected the plaques from the shrines when they were meant as a gift to a Divine being?