I am Japanese -- my cultural heritage informs my work. Living away from my home country and looking at it from a distance, I find many valuable characteristics in Japanese culture: in the ways of thinking, in the sense of value, and also in the arts, design, and in architecture. I also realize that the eastern culture and the western culture are much different than I previously thought. Therefore I appreciate my culture much more and recognize it much clearer than before. I have been deeply immersed in and influenced by Japanese culture since I was born, and here I am. The philosophy of Zen, one of the sects of Buddhism, often gives direction to my creativity.
I’ve been exploring women in a generational context using traditional techniques and their iconography. I use the doily, [though it is from the western culture] in various settings and materials – some incongruously and some traditionally -- as a vehicle for this investigation. Doilies are meaningful for me, because the techniques for making them have been handed down through many generations and the repeated stitches and repeated patterns also imply this repetition of generations. The long uncut threads used to make doilies exemplify our continuing line of life.
The recent theme of my work focuses on eternity and the circle of life through the lens of mortality. I work to show how repeated generations, ancestry, and the cycle of life gives meaning to life and culture. Water is an important sub-theme I use, since water is the basis of life on our earth and has its own lifecycle.
I often use recycled plastic materials such as plastic bottles and grocery bags. They are frequently transformed into a flower form. Making something beautiful from things considered as garbage creates a strong contrast. Flowers and plants repeat their lives while nourishing the next generations, and recycled materials have exactly the very same aspect. I see both eternity and mortality in these materials, as I do in flowers and plants.
Recycled materials and a water theme led me to environmental art and it has become a very important aspect of my work in art. I recently read an article about a mushroom that can digest plastic. Inspired by this amazing news I created many mushrooms by crocheting strips of plastic grocery bags. Now the mushroom form as become a new visual theme in my work. I believe that it has enormous possibilities to broaden and deepen my body of work.
The theme and use of recycled materials resonates deeply with the current situation in our world. But more importantly my work is about how art and beauty are a vital part of our own personal circle of life. I hope my work will reach the viewers’ mind and stimulate thought about how we use materials and how we live our lives.