Edited by Professor Simon Kaner.
Since Leiko Ikemura emerged in the 1970s, she has explored representations of the feminine, focusing on the innocence of childhood, and the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Through her girlish figures and hybrid creatures, Ikemura subtly conveys a sense of estrangement and alienation. She asserts that humankind’s intimate relationships with the natural environment and the universe can be a source of solace and comfort.
Ikemura is an internationally celebrated Japanese-Swiss artist, based in Berlin. Originally from Tsu in Mie Prefecture, Ikemura studied painting in Seville, Spain, before relocating to Switzerland and then Germany. She has won prestigious prizes in Germany, Switzerland and Japan. Ikemura’s first exhibition in the UK, Usagi in Wonderland, included painting, drawing, sculpture and photography, spanning three decades of her career, demonstrating the connectivity of nature – human, animal, plant, or mineral – in an eternal cycle of life. death and renewal.
This publication is the outcome of a collaboration between Leiko Ikemura, The Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures which resulted in the exhibition which took place at the Sainsbury Centre from 17 July – 12 December 2021, and the installation of two iterations of the work Usagi Kannon in the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park.
Alongside the catalogue of the exhibition, the publication features a series of essays about Ikemura’s work, including contributions from Simon Kaner, Tania Moore, Vanessa Tothill, Liliana Janik, Katy Hessel, David Elliott, Anita Haldemann, Midori Matsui, and Mayen Beckmann.