Yamadakazuki

After graduating from the Oil Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts, I began studying mosaic expression upon entering the university’s graduate program in the Second Mural Painting Studio. After completing my degree, I undertook further training in mosaic as an overseas research fellow of the Pola Art Foundation at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna. There, I learned traditional mosaic techniques specific to Ravenna, and I am currently exploring expanded possibilities for contemporary mosaic expression.
I first participated in an artist residency during the summer of my third year as an undergraduate student. While searching for a subject that could only be depicted in that particular place, I encountered the local legends, traditions, and customs of the region. From that moment on, landscapes ceased to be mere scenery and began to feel imbued with something special. By learning about the stories and customs rooted in the land, landscapes that had once been meaningful only to the local people became accessible to me as well. Through these experiences, I came to feel a desire to record, through painting, what has been passed down in the form of words and language.
During my undergraduate studies, I primarily explored expression through oil painting. After joining the Second Mural Painting Studio, however, I began attempting to record these narratives through mosaic. Ancient mosaics that have survived to the present day as important cultural heritage often depict myths and the customs of their time. Encountering these works led me to decide what kind of material I wished to use to express motifs shaped by long spans of time, such as folklore and legend. The characteristic “low resolution” of mosaic also proved ideal for expressing narratives that feel slightly removed from reality.
Because mosaic uses materials such as marble and glass, it is highly durable and, when well preserved, can last for over a thousand years. I believe mosaic is a medium capable of realizing my desire to pass regional folklore—transmitted over long periods of time—from the past into the future.
There are as many stories and customs as there are places where people live, yet the reality is that many fade and disappear as time passes. By learning about the stories that still remain, I wish to preserve the special relationship between people and their land in visible form through mosaic, before these narratives vanish. These works will become traces of my own journeys through these places, and, at the same time, records of myself.