Yukari Kaihori: This Land Is All We Know

In this exhibition Yukari Kaihori communicates a deep concern for the environment and its relationship with value systems in politics and society.

Kaihori says her interest in different value systems comes from her growing up in both Japan and Aotearoa, the cultural values of which had inherent differences and similarities.

In Japan, Kaihori notes, humankind is seen as part of nature, in contrast to Western mythologies that place humans and gods in conflict with their natural environment. Here, Kaihori makes links between Japanese Shintoism and Māori tradition where the symbiotic relationships between people and their environment is clear, she says.

The extraordinary scrolls in This Land Is All We Know are painted a single dot at a time. In the process the dots dissolve into one another through a chemical reaction: each dot lands on the paper, merging, dissolving, and expanding. This process echoes the relationship individuals have with the environment and its sensitive ecosystems.

This Land is All We Know was made at Willapa Bay Air, Washington U.S.A. where the artist completed a month-long residency in 2019.