This exhibition consists of three groups of work which together consider the expressivity that can only be achieved with cloth, and by extension, the potential of cloth as a medium of expression. One is a group of South Pacific Melanesian tapa (bark cloth) and interlaced fabric, representing a tradition of hand-made textiles handed down from before the development of cloth weaving. One is a group of works by dye artist Fukumoto Shigeki, who has long pursued the expressiveness unique to somé (Japanese dyeing), through his insight into the theories of figuration of Japan and Oceania. The third is a group of works by dye artist Fukumoto Shihoko, whose work sublimates the transparency and spirituality of indigo into art, and who has in recent years developed works using old natural cloth made and used in the life and labour of people in regional Japan.
Beginning in 1969, Fukumoto Shigeki took part in the larger movement of that “age of exploration” produced by Japan’s postwar economic growth and the liberalization of overseas travel, by embarking on a voyage of discovery to the South Pacific as part of a group dispatched by Kyoto City University of Arts. His encounter with the “ethnic art” of Papua New Guinea shocked him, and from that time onwards he devoted his attention not only to Oceania’s masks and sculpture but to its art forms in general, especially earthenware, dyeing and weaving, ornaments and money, conducting more than a dozen fieldwork projects since that time. Through his writings he has introduced this art to Japan, while developing a unique theory of dye culture. Fukumoto Shihoko also accompanied him on three trips to Papua New Guinea. Her encounter there with the way in which the forms that people created, rooted in the land, are born out of the operations of nature, led her to turn her attention back to Japanese traditions, where she encountered the indigo dyeing whose possibilities she continues to explore.
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori Public University is located in the midst of nature at the foot of Mount Hakkōda. Aomori, long blessed with natural abundance, breathes with the lives of all the generations from the early Jōmon Period onward who have lived here. We hope that this exhibition will provide an opportunity to reflect on the forms created by the relationship between nature and humans, and on the fundamental expressions that emanate from cloth, which is indispensable for life.

Main exhibits
Forms of Oceania: Tapa from Papua New Guinea (Oro Province), Woven cloth from Vanuatu (pandanus cloth money), Solomon Island cord fabric and beaded shell money, etc.
Fukumoto Shigeki: New works “Sutchan Chagara” and “Chan Chagara”, cotton cloth, reactive dyes, gold and silver leaf, Naruhodo dyeing and cloth inlay, 2023, etc.
Fukumoto Shihoko: New works using spliced old cloth (boro), works made from old natural fabric work clothes and similar kinds of work clothes, etc.