Yoshimi KATAHIRA

​Artist Statement

 

A Japanese artist, I lived in France for twenty years.

This long stay was a quest, revealing my own identity: my roots, my history, and the passage of time. These are elements that inhabit our lives, yet remain invisible to the naked eye.

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I chose to draw them to give substance to the traces of existence.

These imprints are mine, but they resonate within each of us.

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Biography

 

Born in Tokyo, my path as a self-taught artist is made of cycles.

After an initial career in manga and illustration in Japan, life brought me to France in 2006.

The 2011 earthquake marked a profound turning point: the loss of part of my family led me back, after twelve years of silence, to the necessity of drawing.

For ten years, I explored my roots through Japanese mythology.

From this quest, my transition to abstraction was born in 2024: a vital need to give shape to the invisible.

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In October 2025, after twenty years in France, I returned to Japan to pursue this exploration of the essence and traces of life.

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