A place of light and shadow

Drawing inspiration from In Praise of Shadows (陰翳礼讃) by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Midori Uchida began to consider what kind of light might be understood as distinctly and beautifully Japanese. Rather than centering darkness itself, Uchida’s work suggests that a quiet, natural luminosity lies at the heart of a Japanese sensibility of light.

Using washi paper, Uchida constructs a space that extends the logic of the shoji screen beyond its traditional form. By enlarging its scale and deepening its thickness, the surface that receives and diffuses light becomes amplified, allowing illumination to gather with unusual softness and depth.

As daylight shifts with time and weather, subtle changes emerge across the washi boxes. Fleeting variations in atmosphere—often overlooked—become newly perceptible.

The work functions as a device for seeing light more attentively: an invitation to notice delicate transitions, and to discover beauty in their quiet unfolding.