This year’s 9th annual Ueno Artist Project* features diverse forms and styles of expression created by passing a needle and thread repeatedly through cloth or other material. The rhythmic movements of pulling the needle in and out of the cloth bring calm, self-liberation, and at times even salvation, and induce the artist into a deeply meditative world. Meanwhile, this handicraft that arose in different periods and regions from roots in local climate and culture, for purposes of mending or decorating cloth or conveying faith, also moves artists to imagine the lives of people separated from them by time and space.
HIRANO Toshitaro (1904-1994), an artist born in a family of embroiderers practicing their craft since early-modern times, pursued innovative expression on the basis of traditional techniques. ONOE Masano (1921-2002) produced vibrant painting-like works wool yarn, based on knowledge of Western embroidery, and also served as director of the Japan Handicraft Instructors’ Association. OKADA Mika (1969-) freely embroiders pictures of landscapes and objects remembered from paintings and films she has seen. FUSEGI Yohei (1985-) daily plies a needle without impulse to create but seemingly driven to confirm the time and sensations within him. MOCHIZUKI Mari (1926-2023) felt a strong bond with Kantha, a needlework tradition that arose from recycling old garment cloth and expressing prayerful thoughts, handed down among the women of India’s Bengal region.
This exhibition traces the creative activities of the above five artists whose combined careers span from the early 20th century to today. Through a broad diversity of works, we hope to stimulate thought on the meaning and possibilities of embroidery, a craft of moving the hand in conjunction with simple tools, a needle and thread, used by each artist to awaken powerfully imaginative “form” in stitches on cloth.

*The “Ueno Artist Project” is a series highlighting the work of outstanding artists active in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s Public Entry Exhibitions. It has been held annually under selected themes since 2017 with the aim of opening a new chapter in the Museum’s history as “the home of the Public Entry Exhibition.”