In ancient times, all the peoples scattered around the world had their own myths.
It was also their respective philosophies about the world, nature, and the universe.
Through mythology, people have expressed their position in the universe and nature and the relationship between them, and by constructing their own worldview, which can be called a philosophy of life, they have behaved in a humble and elegant manner towards nature and the people around them.
In Japan, there is an ancient concept of "eight million gods" in which the soul resides in all things. This seemingly simple animistic idea has been deeply rooted in our culture for a long time, and has also been the source of people's norms and morals.
However, as post-modern scientific rationalism undermined people's values, we lost our reverence for nature and began to behave in an arrogant, controlling and violent way.
In this context, we the people of today, are exposed to a number of crises, such as the fury of nature brought about by abnormal weather, the loneliness brought about by human relationships that have lost their connection, and the destruction of the environment behind the scenes of mass consumption society.
I think this is because we have lost the philosophy of life, we have lost the sense of distance, the way of dialogue and the way of dealing with nature.
I hope that now, once again, we can uncover the wisdom that humanity once possessed in order to face our existence and our relationship with nature.
And that is the reason why I study the philosophy of mythology and express it in my own way.
With this background, the series will focus on the relationship between people and nature in the stories.
In mythology and folktales, natural phenomena and natural objects are personified or characterized in the stories.
They can talk to people and give them help or benefits, or they can sometimes deceive or harm them.
Nature has a way of transforming itself and interacting with us in different ways.
It is wisdom that brings us closer to nature and a way of expressing the truth.
It is in these expressions that we have come to feel the inexhaustible richness of nature and to be awed by its whims.
I wanted to express the relationship between people and nature by incorporating this kind of familiarity with nature into my paintings.
Inspired by motifs and memorable scenes from myths and folktales, this series shows human-like characters together with natural phenomena and natural objects.
In my artwork, I want to express the various problems we are facing today and the distance we have from nature by combining motifs that actually appear in stories with contemporary motifs.
Myths come to life again and breathe their life into the modern world.
I hope that the artworks in this series will, if only in a small way, inspire you to do so.