Art Diary

The Whispering Land: Artists in Correspondence with Nature

12 July 2024

The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum displays the work of five contemporary Japanese artists who share an interest in the relationship between humans and nature in a world where they are increasingly detached from one another (20 July–9 October). Highlights include woodblock paintings by Haruka Furusaka, who paints on collected wood with pigments that have been made from sifted soil, fermented indigo leaves and crushed seeds. Also on display are delicate botanical watercolours by Mitsuko Kurashina, showing how the environment has recovered – and to what degree – after the earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region in 2011, and Kiichi Kawamura’s contemplative photographs of animals roaming around in the wild.

Find out more from the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s website.

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Hagakure (2014), Haruka Furusaka. Photo: courtesy Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori Public University; © the artist

40°12’15″N 141°47’55″E (2013–14), Mitsuko Kurashina. © the artist

Untitled (2018), Kiichi Kawamura. © the artist