Twelve Hundred Years of Waiting in the Rain

Yours Truly gathers letters written across more than two thousand years, and Luke Hammond went further back than almost anyone. His sources are two poems exchanged between Prince Ōtsu and Ishikawa no Iratsume in late seventh century Japan, from the Man’yōshū, and a poem by the sixteenth century Korean poet Hwang Jini.

The first two are a call and an answer, and they became connected rings for a couple. Ōtsu writes:

"In the dew drops of the mountains,
waiting for you, my beloved,
I stood and grew wet—
in the dew drops of the mountains"

Ishikawa replies:

"Waiting for me,
You must have grown wet
in the mountain dew drops --
if only I could have become them."

His ring is oxidised silver with a sapphire and hints of yellow gold. Hers is yellow gold with an Australian sapphire of 1.35 carats, with additional Ceylon sapphires, an aquamarine and diamonds. The exchange is twelve hundred years old and still works exactly as intended: he says he stood out in the wet waiting for her, she says she wishes she had been the water.

The third ring, an open design in yellow gold with sapphires and diamonds, comes from Hwang Jini, a poet from 16th Century Korea, who wrote with unusual directness about sending someone away and regretting it.

"What have I done? Did I not know I would miss you?
Had I asked you to stay, would you have gone?
Yet I insisted on sending you away—
and now this longing: I cannot understand my own heart."

Luke has written all three poems out by hand and sent them with the work, so each ring arrives carrying its own letter.

Yours Truly is a group exhibition of rings by fourteen of our artists, each one made in response to a letter. 12 to 28 November 2026, at 28 Russell Place, Melbourne.