Noe Iwai

I have been examining the dialogue between the political and the poetic within my practice and being of Japanese descent is integral to my life and work, as it continues to influence conflicts between human and nature. 

My grandparents lived through Hiroshima and the Second World War; and to me, its traumas are not merely embedded in the history, culture and physical landscape of Japan, but have left further traces within the artist’s personal history as well as my body. As a means of addressing collective heritage, I weave together traditional gestures and cultural rituals with interpersonal and emotive narratives. Constantly shifting between the past and the present, my work explores my childhood in Japan as well as historically embedded myths, poetry and storytelling. 

The aforementioned subjects are an ongoing vein of research in my work and come from a personal place of care and respect to family and friends in Japan as well as in England. I incorporate martial art – karate – butoh, music and calligraphy in my performances and paintings as both a means to convey my traditional cultural background as well as to physically express speed and power within my practice. My movements convey historical traces made apparent through the incorporation of my female body.