Artist Statement

A friend recently asked me, what percentage of our lives do you think we experience joy? To me, people spend much of their lives striving to find some form of happiness, but only briefly experience it. And when we do, it is often spontaneously, in the midst of our struggles, through the changing rhythm of daily life.

My practice has involved different media over the years, but a common purpose has been to capture the infrequent and fleeting moments when life subtly glistens. I have often encountered such moments in nature--in spring meadows in Switzerland, the fall leaves of NYC, or DC's abundant cherry blossoms, which echo those of my native Japan. Beyond the natural world, my recent inspiration has been more personal, with a focus on my family and the various communities that I move in and out of while navigating everyday life. By documenting the beauty in the mundane and asking viewers to consider such moments, my work encourages them to reflect on their own lives in a way that may evoke memories of similar experiences and the glow emanating from them.

When considering how to represent these experiences in my recent work, I have looked to Japanese byōbu, folding screens that were used to enclose private spaces and that often incorporate kinpaku (gold leaf ). Traditionally, panels have depicted scenes from nature, literature, and historic battles. By adapting this form to render a more personal history, I seek to elevate seemingly unremarkable vignettes, immersing them in gold like other epic scenes, to suggest that even simple moments in our own narratives carry significance. In doing so, rather than concealing private moments, my work invites viewers to inhabit my experience and ponder where their own fleeting moments of joy reside.