KIGI NO SANPO : When Trees Walk

KIGI NO SANPO: When Trees Walk

Artistic performance and poetic wandering by Yuka Matsui and Matthieu Séguéla

Yuka Matsui is a Japanese artist, graduated in calligraphy. In the 2010s, she went to study in France and began collaborating on illustrating poetry books. She met painters such as Soulages, Alechinsky, Viallat, Dezeuze, and Matsutani.

Inspired by nature, light, and literature, Yuka Matsui innovates with traditional techniques and materials, which she repurposes from their usual functions: Japanese washi paper, wooden shoji window structures, gold or silver leaf… Her works oscillate between figuration and abstraction. Her latest creations have been part of collective or individual exhibitions, such as the series Thirty-Six Views of Mont Saint-Clair in Sète or the upcoming series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Sainte-Victoire scheduled for 2025 at the Nagai Gallery in Ginza (Tokyo).

Yuka Matsui also performs original artistic performances in major institutions in France (Château de Versailles, Guimet Museum, Soulages Museum, Matisse Museum, etc.), Switzerland (Baur Foundation, Geneva; Museum of Cultures, Lugano), and Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto).

Matthieu Séguéla is a historian. An associate teacher-researcher at the French Institute for Research on Japan (Meae-CNRS, Tokyo), he is also a curator and lecturer. He has been directing Yuka Matsui’s performances since 2018. His latest published work is Soulages, d’une rive à l’autre, 2023, Actes Sud (in collaboration with M. de Saint Chéron).

Franco-Japanese event organised as part of the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of the Fondation Maeght

With Fujifilm France support

Photo credit: Matthieu Séguéla