Wild Things

Norio Ishiwata and Chifumi Ishiwata formed the art unit Orinotawashi after their marriage. Based in Tokyo, they began by creating collage works, working together to complete each single piece. In 2013, they dedicated themselves to art, participating in artist-in-residence programs in five countries: Spain, Italy, Zambia, Egypt, and Morocco. Their travels abroad inspired them to focus on the theme of “art for living.” In Spain, they met Irish artist Mark Redden, whose traditional Irish boat, the Currach, and his artistic style influenced them.

Upon returning to Japan, they learned carpentry skills to build a Currach and moved to Kitaibaraki City, a coastal town, to construct it. Since 2017, they have been involved in urban development projects in Kitaibaraki City through art. In the same year, they renovated a 150-year-old traditional Japanese house into an art gallery. Since 2020, they have been working as community support officers on a project to create a landscape in the mountainous ar ea of the city, planting cherry trees, reviving charcoal kilns, and regeneratin gabandoned farmland and fallow fields. In the process, they have also reviv ed traditional Japanese techniques such as paper making and lacquer tree planting. In recent years, they have developed their collage technique based on the concept that Japanese art originates from daily life, creating living environments and finding subjects and materials from those environments. They have exhib ited woek such as paintings, sculptures, pottery and prints.