Sasaki Natsumi　

Sasaki attended the Tohoku University of Art & Design, where she studied nihonga (Japanese-style painting) and began painting nihonga-style portraits of herself with long, rabbit-like ears. These portraits reflect Sasaki’s long-held desire to be a different lifeform and are a precursor to the works introduced here. She is driven by the thought, “If only people could be as diverse as alien lifeforms.” Her work revolves around Rinjin (lit. “neighbor”), a mysterious being that combines the qualities of humans, animals, plants, and bugs, and a figure named N, who conducts archaeological research surrounding Rinjin. The exhibition features zoological specimens by Rinjin that N has discovered, a ceramic body suit of terracotta that N developed, and N’s notes. The installation immerses the viewer in Sasaki’s creative world, which is devoted to the “liberation of humans as lifeforms.”

プロフィール

b. 1999 in Iwate Prefecture. Sasaki completed an MFA at the Tohoku University of Art & Design in 2023. Her past exhibitions include the solo exhibition Out of the Soil (Tarohei Gallery, Tokyo, 2023), the Hoshino Shingo Award Exhibition at the 8th Triennial Competition in Toyohashi (Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History, 2021), and Pneuma (Kuma Gallery, Tokyo, 2023). Sasaki won the Hoshino Shingo Prize (Grand Prize) at the 8th Triennial Competition in Toyohashi in 2021.

[On exhibit] Left to right: “Rinjin Specimen II—Heaven,”
“Rinjin Suit,” “Rinjin Specimen III—Open,” 2023. Collection of the artist. Photo courtesy of the Kuma Foundation

[On exhibit] “Rinjin Specimen III—Open,” 2023, dye and pigment on leather. Collection of the artist.

[On exhibit] “Rinjin Specimen II—Heaven,” 2023, dye and pigment on leather. Collection of the artist.

[On exhibit] “Rinjin Specimen III—Open,” 2023, dye and pigment on leather. Collection of the artist.

[On exhibit] “Rinjin Specimen II—Heaven,” 2023, dye and pigment on leather. Collection of the artist.