Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson: Wholeness
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Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery 461 Langdon Crescent, Crescent Park, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan S6H 0X6
Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson, "Wholeness," 2021
Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson: Wholeness
Virtual In Conversation Artist Talk: Thursday, June 17 @ 7pm
Wholeness presents the beautifully minimal fibre art works of emerging Saskatchewan artist, Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson. The exhibition features two different bodies of work, Calling and Gaia Symphony, with each series drawing on her Japanese culture, her family memories and the landscapes of her new home in Saskatchewan.
In the series, Calling, Hanna’s works reference the natural world to speak to the interdependence of all lifeforms. The elegance and simplicity of form and an embrace of texture and chance in the works speak to the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, finding the beauty in imperfection. The abstract nature of the work also allows it to present as meditations, as quiet moments to pause and reflect, while alluding to symbolism and abstract concepts of time, memory, history, and states of being.
In the series, Gaia Symphony, Hanna responds to the works of renowned Saskatchewan-born, abstract artist, Agnes Martin, by using fabrics from traditional kimonos, connecting to art history while referencing her culture and familial histories. Hanna explores Agnes Martin’s use of the grid in her abstract canvases, seeing Martin’s grid systems as symbolic or spiritual references to a universal order. The artist recognizes that her work, through these references, possesses another Japanese aesthetic concept, mono no aware, which refers to a gentle sadness or a wistfulness for the ephemeral nature of life.
Both bodies of works, through their quiet and poetic beauty, present the artist’s exploration of the wonder of life in all its interconnectedness and, yet, it reflects an acceptance of its impermanence, recognizing that only by embracing its fleeting nature can we truly come to embrace life with harmony and wholeness. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.