Ayano Matsumae
・・
Born in Tokushima, Japan
Lives & works in USA
a Japanese artist/tiny part of nature. Growing up in several rural areas in Japan, she has been conscious of mysterious energies and expressions in nature since childhood. She explores them in her everyday life by observation, reading books about the laws of nature and learning how humans see, recognize and try to understand the world. She started writing Haiku to express her impressions of a moment in nature with observation, then took more direct methods: analogue photography with albumen printing techniques on Japanese handmade paper. She makes portraits of nature to capture a life, moment, light, atmosphere and energy that she feels in the moment. Her focus is creating work that become an interface between nature and humans' conception of nature (including humans and the universe). Recently, Matsumae started practicing Noh chanting with an interest in both the physical, performative aspect of chanting, as well as exploring the ongoing exchange between human and non-humans that occur through Noh.
CV
Education
BA. in Aesthetics, Faculty of Letter, University of Tokyo.
Exhibitions
Solo show
2015 -Nov. "Look at Me, I'm Here" at Le Cabinet Ilya, Tokyo, Japan
2022 -Oct.-Nov. "・○ TeN eN " at OBSERVATORY, Belfast, ME
Lecture / Presentation
2018 - Artist talk/Albumen print workshop
at Bennington College, Bennington, VT
"Washi-Japanese paper / Japanese sensibilities and attitudes toward nature"
2014 - Artist talk/Presentation at Bennington College, Bennington, VT
"Japanese sensibilities and attitudes toward nature"
Visiting artist
2018 Awagami factory visiting artist program
2019 Awagami factory visiting artist program
Media
2017 - Appeared on Japanese TV program, "New York Photographer
Seeking Paper in Echizen" interviewed by Fukui TV Station
2022 - Republican Journal news article :Completing the circle
Solo exhibition'・ ◯ TeN eN ' was covered focusing on 'enso practice'