ABOUT
ART FOR THOUGHT is pleased to exhibit the original artworks from Mayuko Okoda’s picture book,”Dayflower.”
With the delicate depiction of stencil dyeing and the warm texture of Japanese paper, Okoda will publish her picture book “Dayflower” in April. Please enjoy the mysterious world inspired by animals, plants, and the Kojiki, through the exhibition of original artworks.
ARTIST STATEMENT
When I was a child, my mother read me many picture books, from which I fantasized and drew pictures. This experience was so common that I still recall it vividly. When I was in elementary school, I became interested in "Kojiki," the oldest book in Japan. Later, my mother began to recite the Kojiki to me, and my involvement with it deepened through her. The mother's expression of recitation, in which her voice is produced by listening carefully to the echoes of life, influenced my creative approach to feel the hearts of the gods and ancient Japanese people. And hence naturally, various myths and folklore stories are composed on the artwork through myself and expressed as stories of creation.
I have been creating artworks in an attempt to express a sense of life through stencil dyeing. This sense of life is expressed through the stencil-dyed patterns, which are dynamic lines that are born from the narrative that lies at the core of my artistic expression. Narrative is based on the world of myths, folk tales, and legends that have been told since ancient times, as well as stories that I have been exposed to since childhood, and I believe that much of my sensitivity was cultivated through experiences gained by listening to my mother’s picture book reading.
The patterns in stencil dyeing are based on animals, plants, people, natural phenomena, and fictional creatures. When I actually experience living things and nature, I am moved by the "lives alive and breathing" and creates a story in history and culture that arises from the belief in these things. The sense of life is not something that is actually felt from living things and nature, but rather a narrative within my own experience of these things. When this is developed into a work of art, it is expressed as my longing for nature and a sense of reverence for ancient people and gods and buddhas.
“Dayflower” is a picture book with stencil dyeing as the original artwork. I place glue on Japanese paper, and then dyes the paper with black dye using a brush. The expression has a unique beauty that is different from that of a drawing, print, or dyed cloth, and has the power to enhance the story.
Picture book production is also an act of confronting my artistry, which has been cultivated through picture books. I attempted to express the story inside me by using stencil dyeing, Japanese paper, drawings, and text.
See the artworks available online.