The central of my work is the light and darkness of the human spirit.

I grew up in a dysfunctional home. My parents were hoarders, and my father controlled everything. This patriarchal system was normal at the time in Japan, but my father took it further, often resorting to verbal abuse and oppression. This mentally and emotionally scarred and traumatized me. I committed myself to use the memories and struggles from the trauma to drive my art, and most of what I create is a response and rejection to the abuses of my childhood.

I began to examine the idea of a formless spirit that lies beneath our physical form. I trace the physical frame and explore what rises to the surface of that form based on life experiences. My desire, my keen interest, is to unveil and give form to that spirit, and allow my work to show the contrast between the darkness we experience and the hope and light that exists inside. I want to portray this contrast on the canvas, and create a visual representation of what I imagine this contrast to look like.

I do not draw the full human form. I do not seek to create a perfect body, as that is not reality. When I have tried to do so, I find it unappealing and unrelatable. The human body is not perfect, and I find the essence of humans in society to be most accurately reflected in a state of absence of perfection.

By drawing on this style of imagery, I find I can create something imperfect that can still be beautiful. I hope that those who see my art can look beneath the surface, see the trauma and the pain, and also see that the human spirit is stronger than the things that shape our lives. We are more than what has happened to us. Our spirit may be broken by what we have experienced, but it is still beautiful. This is what I want to show in my art.