Heian No-Mori (Peacefull Forest), 2018

Heian No-Mori (Peace Forest) 2018,

Kamiyama, Japan

The works in this exhibition were produced during the Kamiyama artist residency program between August and November 2018 in Japan. The exhibition space that I chose was a traditional sake brewery. During this time, I had the opportunity to work with different materials. The exhibition featured old books, moss, lichen, and dead insects which I have collected from the forest near my house as well as papers that I made from natural materials, watercolor patterns, and ceramics made with help from a traditional ceramic artist couple residing in the woods.. I’ve produced 10 ceramic sculptures with them, using a blue color special to Kamiyama, which we then placed in the forest. The main theme of my exhibition was the Japanese culture’s relation to nature and its narrativity in Kamiyama as well as the tales and the stories influenced by Shamanism and Buddhism, temples, sculptures, tombstones, and relics of the past which feed on and thrive with humid air.

Photo Credit: Keizo Konishi