IBASHO presents 'Visual Poetry from Ishikawa', a duo exhibition with the Japanese photographers Mika Horie and Yumiko Izu
IBASHO
Visual Poetry from Ishikawa
16 November 2024 - 12 January 2025
Tolstraat 67, 2000 Antwerp
(Both artists will be present at the opening on Saturday 16 November.)
Mika Horie
Mika Horie is a Japanese artist who creates cyanotypes on handmade paper, living and working in a Meiji-era farmhouse in Yamanaka Onsen, Kaga. Each spring, she collects gampi branches to craft the paper that holds her art. Her work draws from the natural world, incorporating elements of trees, water, and light. Rooted in nature, Horie’s creations embody wabi-sabi, reflecting beauty in imperfection and transience.
Her photographic process, like her papermaking, is slow and organic. She treats the paper with chemicals, exposes it to sunlight with negatives, then washes it in spring water, letting the wind dry it naturally. During winter, rainy days present a distinct obstacle when creating Gampi papers and cyanotypes under sunlight. This creative pursuit demands patience and the deliberate application of brush strokes to impart lines and colours onto the paper while evoking and reflecting upon personal memories. This artistic journey gradually reignited recollections of her early childhood memories.
In the three years following the pandemic, Horie has engaged in numerous discussions with visitors to her studio in Japan about the captivating vitality of the color blue on Earth. During this period, she has been exploring the application of Nihonga, a traditional Japanese painting technique, using pigments with Nikawa (natural glue) on cyanotype prints. This has allowed her to articulate the lasting impressions of colours she captures through her photography.
For her new work, Horie has immersed herself in nearly-forgotten traditions such as kimono- making, the tea ceremony, and even duck hunting. Particularly fascinated by the intricate beauty of the Obi and the entire kimono-making process, she met with artisans who specialise in crafting silk yarns and Obi. Over two months, she raised silkworms to gain a deeper understanding of the silk production process. During this time, she also experienced the enchanting world of native wildflowers and plants during her weekly tea ceremony practice. Her tea instructors shared profound Zen wisdom while discussing the seasonal decorations in the tea room, revealing the deep significance and beauty of each arrangement. These teachings enriched her creativity, inspiring fresh ideas and imagery she eagerly anticipated exploring.
Throughout this journey, she delved deeply into the rich and complex facets of Japanese culture, uncovering uncharted aspects of the island's history. She hopes that her newest book, “Air, Flowers, and Colours”, provides readers with an insightful glimpse into her profound connection to her identity and ancestral heritage.
At the opening her book will be launched, “Air, Flowers, and Colours”, co-published by (M) éditions and IBASHO.
Yumiko Izu
Yumiko Izu was born in Osaka, Japan, where she studied at Visual Arts School, before moving to California to continue her education at the Brooks Institute of Photography. In 1998, she relocated to New York to pursue her career, starting in editorial photography before transitioning to fine art. There, she mastered the delicate art of large-format photography, using 8×10 and 11×14 inch cameras, and perfected the timeless platinum/palladium printing process. Her work captures the yin and yang of life, focusing on fleeting life cycles of flowers and animals.
In the exhibition ‘Visual Poetry from Ishikawa’, Yumiko Izu presents works from the series ‘Utsuroi’. In Japanese, utsuroi refers to the gradual, inevitable transformation from one state to another, suggesting that nothing is permanent and everything is ephemeral. Izu created the ‘Utsuroi’ series between spring and autumn of 2020, reflecting the internal and external states she experienced during the height of the pandemic while living in upstate New York.
Loneliness led her inward, forcing her to face herself. She found solace by a lake, watching water lilies bloom briefly, close against the harsh sun, and slowly disappear with the autumn chill. Yet beneath winter’s frost, their roots endured, waiting for spring’s warmth to rise again. In this quiet cycle, the artist felt the flow of life and the resilience in life.
Compelled by this quiet persistence, Izu began collecting flowers and lily pads to capture their fleeting beauty in the darkroom. Using a camera-less photogram technique, she placed the subjects directly on large-format film, approximately 14 x 20 inches, and created the images through multiple exposures with various types of light. The resulting soft lines blur and bleed in a unique way, almost as though they’ve been drawn with light.
For Yumiko, the process felt like a prayer, a meditation. The final images reflect how her heart transformed through the series and the tranquility she found. She continues the Utsuroi series while living in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
