The tree that lives on Yuriko Nishiishigaki

We are pleased to present a solo exhibition by Yuriko Nishiishigaki, a wood carving artist based in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. 
Okinawa is a subtropical island with a warm climate year-round and frequent typhoons. 
Trees growing under such intense natural conditions — conditions deeply interwoven with local life — are bent and twisted by years of wind and rain, eventually reaching the end of their life. 
Nishiishigaki is deeply committed to working with local materials from Okinawa, which she incorporates into her practice. 

When she first began her career as a wood carving artist, she focused on creating linear, perfect forms. While enjoying the process of creation, she also felt a constant tension between the joy of making and the struggle of "need to create something ". 
One day, she was told: “When scooping water with your hands, they form not a perfect circle but an irregular shape.” 
That remark liberated her. She began collecting trees that had fallen in typhoons and started carving works that responded intuitively to their unique forms — each bearing marks of a life forged by the island’s climate. Her practice now embraces a process of carving in which the final form is unknown at the start, and cracks or distortions — natural traits of the wood — are accepted and even cherished. In a sense, she entrusts her hand to the material’s will. Her approach could be described as an act of reverence for each tree’s life in nature and an artist’s gesture to breathe new life into them. These works, in turn, continue their life within our daily environments, adapting and becoming part of new spaces. 

We invite you to encounter the quiet resilience embedded in each of Nishiishigaki’s pieces.

Also available at our online store!