"Words that dwell in colors, lives that are dyed in words" The world of Shimura Fukumi
"Words that dwell in colors, lives that are dyed in words" - The world of Shimura Fukumi
When you touch Shimura Fukumi's textiles as the autumn mist drifts over the garden, you are filled with the illusion that the signs of the season rise from deep within the threads. The thread dyed with cherry blossom petals is not just the color of the flower itself. It reflects the stillness before the flowers bloom, the lingering feeling after they have fallen, and the presence of "cherry blossoms" that remains in people's memories.
Shimura says:
At his 100th birthday exhibition held at the Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art and the Okura Museum of Art, works such as "Autumn Mist" and "End of the Field" were displayed, and visitors were left breathless by the depth of their colors. The kimonos and obi on display were like parts of a story. Seasons, emotions, and even philosophy are imbued in a single piece of fabric.
Shimura Fukumi's words, like textiles, embrace the heart. Her ideas resonated with Muneyoshi Yanagi of the Mingei Movement, and together with the spirit of handicrafts inherited from her mother, they were sublimated into art.
When we come into contact with her work, perhaps we don't see the colors, but rather the colors see us. The colors gently caress our memories and emotions. This is proof that Shimura Fukumi has stood between nature and humans, weaving the world together through words and colors.