MIYOUKI NAKAJIMA - ARTIST
Self-taught, Miyouki Nakajima is a visual artist who is interested in the use of textiles to make flowers and plants. Lyrical and poetic, her creations invite us to travel and explore our feelings, even if it means moving away from realism to raise questions about the representation of time, whether it is frozen or past. Thus, memories and emotions are mixed.
She's Japanese artist based in France since 2017, and is represented by the SINOPLE gallery in Paris.
After having been both artistic director and responsible for a line of accessories in Japan, Miyouki Nakajima created in 2013 her own company, SOIE:LABO, within which she makes floral ornaments for various designers.
As the making of artificial flowers is a craft rooted in history but has become a somewhat minor craft, the artist wishes to keep this heritage alive while contributing to its revival. It is with ardor that she puts her heart and her skills at the service of a contemporary vision of this craft, respectful of its traditions. She is constantly exploring new techniques and studying new skills to put artistic value back at the center of this craft. It is thus quite naturally that she borrows, during her studies, techniques such as Sumi (Japanese ink), Kinzoku-Fun (metal powders) and Iwa-Enogu (natural mineral pigments) from Japanese painters. All these studies are a tribute to the great French craftsmen, heirs of century-old traditions.
In her creation, she unconsciously projects her life and her history on the impermanence of nature.
"In contact with nature, I experience abstract sensations, a mixture of feelings and impulses. The fleeting dimension of life and nature as it imposes itself on my senses, is inscribed in me as a memory and inspires my creation.
I know that it is impossible to control nature. I fear and respect nature as much as I love it. For us Japanese, nature is great and its existence brings us many benefits while sometimes harming us: earthquakes, typhoons, volcanoes, tsunamis... Japan always lives with the spectre of natural disasters. When I am in nature, I think about death, impermanence and the fragility of life: life decays and then regenerates. Nature invites me to accept to merge into its cycle.
And then, I must mention the Wabi Sabi as in the eyes of Westerners, this word seems to define my creation. This connection seems to me singular and fortuitous. First of all, it seems to me that it is in essence impossible to intentionally create a work that would give substance to Wabi Sabi. So I have never tried to do that. If I were to try to interpret this word from the top of my knowledge, knowing that if I don't know how to define it, my interpretation might not be correct, I would say that Wabi means modesty, the state of being away from earthly desires such as good reputation, wealth and being fashionable. I would say, on the other hand, that Sabi means silence as we imagine it in ataraxia, in the absence of selfish thoughts. In short, Wabi Sabi is never deliberately created, it is impossible for me to express it consciously in my creation. Rather, it is a certain pure beauty that evokes potential quality, a feeling that one experiences from the heart. If the Wabi Sabi spirit exists in my work, that spirit is expressed in the heart of the person who sees my work, I think."
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
EXPOSITION
2022
2021
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
« 1er étage » - galerie SINOPLE, 75003 Paris
« Natures Mortes » - Gallery SINOPLE, 75003 Paris
Vol.3 « ÉCLIPSE / COEXISTENCE » - CASTOR FLEURISTE, 75003 Paris
Vol.2 « SANS TITLE » - SALON JACQUES MOISANT Paris, 75006 Paris
Vol.1 « Hono-Akari --- la faible lueur dans l’obscurité »
- LA GALERIE 3M² au jardin du Palais Royal, 75001 Paris
« Exposition des Broches fleurs de SOIE:LABO » - à la boutique HIIRAGI , Tokyo
Exposition solo - POLA THE BEAUTY GINZA , Tokyo
« L’art Décoratif de Yukata » - ISETAN SHINJUKU , Tokyo
Exposition solo à la boutique de mariage - ClI'O MARIAGE , Tokyo
Présentation d'une collection réalisée avec la technique de peinture japonaise et de lavis lors de l'exposition collective officielle « Ambiance » - Fashion Week Tokyo
Présentation de créations lors de l’exposition collective de mode « rooms 30 » , Tokyo
Exposition solo 2014 - HAKO GALLERY , Tokyo
MODE, COSTUMES et SPECTACLES etc...
2021
2018
2017
2015
2014
2013
Decoration Flowers (silk roses) for FENDI Spring 2021 Couture runway
Collaboration with « Laure de Sagazan » , Paris
Cllaboration with « CASTOR FLEURISTE » for Noël , Paris
Decorations for the concert of Jane Birkin « Gainsbourg Symphonique » at théâtre Liberté , Toulon
Headpieces for runway of a ready-to-wear brand « divka » ,
Tokyo Fashion Week - 2016 SS collection
Accessories for a ready-to-wear brand « Kenji Hikino »
Tokyo Fashion Week - 2015-16 AW collection
Headpieces for the japanese free journal « No Longer Human vol.3 »
Coutured-Flower for a performing arts « Utopia » by Japanese dance company
« Memori’s Fairy Tales »
Headpiece for Japanese musicians, Kotringo, Cantus and for pianist Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming.