During my stay at the International Art Village in 2019, I learned how to make handmade washi from Mr. Takizawa, an artist who produces Degahara washi and other washi-making products in Nishiaizu.
The first thing he taught me was how to cut kozo (paper mulberry).
Then, he learned how to use the heat of a steaming kettle. After the kozo is steamed for a day and softened, the skin is peeled and the fibers are boiled in ash. The fibers are shredded by beating firmly.
Paper was precious in the old days. I learned the process, feeling the weight of those words. Mr. Takizawa taught us about the noriutsugi tree as the glue that holds the fibers together.
The branches of this tree are gathered and the bark is scraped off. If you rub it well with water, you will get a paste. When mixed together, the fibers intertwine to form a sheet of paper.
The outer bark, which is not often mixed in with ordinary washi, is also mixed in to produce a rough washi. Through the process of making washi, she learned to bring nature into the canvas.
I also experienced that this is not something special, but something that has been handed down from generation to generation.

In my work, I depicted animals I encountered in Nishiaizu and people who live in the mountains at night.
I met many animals on the night roads of Nishiaizu. When I gaze at them, glowing white from the car lights, I can feel something like a sign of the night through their skin. The unevenness of their skin is somehow similar to the unevenness woven by the fibers of Japanese paper.