Hikari-tsugi - Light Mending

 

In Hikari-tsugi (Light Mending), Yuriko Yamamoto draws upon the Japanese tradition of kintsugi as a starting point for exploring trauma, loss, and recovery. Rather than repairing broken objects with lacquer and gold, the artist proposes a form of "light mending" in which damaged or missing parts are reconnected through light itself.

 

As Yamamoto states:
"What is broken or wounded can shine more strongly precisely because of the depth of its damage and the magnitude of its loss. Destruction is not merely disappearance; it can also be understood as a preparation for receiving light."

 

The exhibition brings together a series of illuminated vitrined objects in which light occupies spaces of absence and fracture. A bird whose missing head reappears as a radiant constellation suggests continuity beyond physical form. A fragmented classical bust acquires a luminous extension that reaches beyond the boundaries of the body. Elsewhere, an actual branch of coral becomes the foundation for crystalline structures that transform a fragile natural form into a new state of being.

 

For Yamamoto, these works are concerned not with material repair but with emotional and spiritual restoration:
"Even when a physical form is lost, its essential existence may be reconnected through the light within us."
Throughout her practice, Yamamoto has created experiential installations that engage perception, memory, and participation. In Hikari-tsugi, reflections, refractions, and shifting optical effects change according to the viewer's position in space, making each encounter unique and situating the viewer within the work itself.

 

Rather than offering a fixed narrative, Hikari-tsugi invites visitors to reflect on their own experiences of loss, resilience, and change. The exhibition suggests that absence is not simply disappearance, but the possibility of another form of connection and continuity.

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