Born in Tokyo, I have lived abroad and grew up in Switzerland away from my family since I was very young. Always fascinated by the world bigger than us, the theme of my artwork has been glowing streetscapes and cityscapes like jewellery. By combining my background and international sensibility with Japanese painting or Nihonga, while inheriting traditional techniques, I continue to pursue possibilities of Nihonga. What originally inspired me to paint were the cityscapes of Jaisalmer, a city in India known as the “golden city” that gleams in gold-like colors at sunset. The glowing sceneries reminded me of jewelries that retain their shine even after a thousand years and I felt a strong desire to capture them in paintings. 

I was strongly touched and felt my Japanese roots by the encounter of traditional Japanese painting or Nihonga, that has evolved over a thousand years. The pigments are made from pulverized minerals and gemstones. The traditional washi paper and sumi inks are said to keep for a thousand years or more. One could argue that a piece of nihonga is equal in value to a piece of jewelry.

While a typical ink sketch or kotsugaki consists of little more than simple outlines, my method is to create a nearly finished picture with ink wash instead and layer it with mineral colors and so on. Although the process takes longer, it allows me to express the glow precisely as I see them.

In recent work, I focus on the infinite possibilities of what remains foreign to us; the world of the unknown, to communicate hope and beauty from a physical and conceptual viewpoint. The concept originates from my sister's rare inborn condition with only a few cases in the world.