Born to a Japanese father and an American mother, I grew up straddling two different worlds. It made me sensitive to how we perceive ourselves and others as I tried to fit into cultures that viewed me as other. From this early childhood experience, I grew fascinated with the dichotomies that we designate in our lives - East/West, us/them, introvert/extrovert. We define each against the other and yet they live in harmony and balance. My forms strive to find this sense of equilibrium between binary oppositions like volume/openness, movement/stillness, suspension/structure, light/shadow. Through my work, I try to capture the quiet wonder that offers us time to reflect and pause. 

My latest series explores the subtleties that shape who we are - how subliminal aspects of culture and environment affect our understanding of our world. Subconscious repetition and patterns throughout life can unknowingly form our identity. Like a basket woven from strands of fiber, we weave our narratives from an accumulation of individual experiences and memories. Embracing the notion that our lives are composed of seemingly insignificant moments that together form embodied memories, each object is composed of individual dots of clay that are carefully pressed together to create a structure. Drawing ques from weaving and textiles, my making method emphasizes the beauty in repetition, sequencing, pattern, and ritual. 

The tacit knowledge gained from the repetitive process is balanced with a material understanding as I explore the limits of the clay. Through a conversation with the material, the structures emerge, allowing space for introspection and meditation. Each dot is a representation of time and focus, building into a physical expression of the intimacy of the process. My intention is to create a sense of solace and tranquility through the contemplation of the work, a space to acknowledge that in the repetition of each dot contains the rhythm of memory. As the viewer moves around the work, compelled by the pattern and changing of light, they are encouraged to reflect on the significance of fleeting moments - the quiet between breaths.