散文詩 Prose Poetry

A New Solo Show by Akiko Hirai

8th July - 9th September 2022

11am - 6pm 7th July Private View – Akiko will be at the gallery 2-5pm

Akiko Hirai’s new collection explores multisensory responses to objects – how sight and touch form an unspoken “language”. Although she starts with the same clays and glazes, Hirai’s meticulous firing process creates an enormous textural and tonal variety in her ceramics. In the kiln, every vessel undergoes its own experience, giving each piece its own unique poetry. The viewer, in turn, brings their own subjective perspective. It is this ambiguity that inspires Hirai, as both maker and viewer compose their own “poem” in what they think they see.

The title ‘Poetry Prose’ reflects Hirai’s interest in the unspoken language of objects, and the communication that is possible through craft. This process is completed by the viewer, who reads the “words” of her ceramics, and creates their own poetic interpretation.

“In spoken language, everyone has a different style to how we tell things; a kind of unorganised, un-systemised way of communication. You learn how to use your material, like painter does visual language, the poet has their own verbal style, and the musician their own style of composing. They all communicate with the audience. This is happening in pottery too; everyone’s work speaks its own language. Anything handmade which people make from scratch is a kind of language, there are words in it. We can compose poetry from what we see.”

Akiko Hirai

The minutiae of everyday experiences are a key visual influence in Hirai’s work. She explores how the seasons gradually transform her surroundings, and the feelings these sights can evoke. For her, visual information filters into the unconscious mind, and then resurfaces in her ceramics.

“My everyday life is my inspiration. I go swimming every morning – I observe the seasonal changes in light, the reflections on water while you’re swimming, the sensation of water. As I’m walking from my home to the studio, I notice how things get greener and are growing. That kind of seasonal movement always affects me, it comes out in the work. Visual information is actually very, very strong information, so even if you don’t want it to, it will reflect on your work. It’s not a direct expression, but you feel it. That’s another inspiration for the title ‘Prose Poetry’ – in poetry, you don’t need to use any description of the feeling, and instead you can describe the scenery. Yet through it, you can see how that person looking at that scenery is feeling.”

Akiko Hirai

The interaction between the senses is significant in Hirai’s work. Touch and sight come together: she explains how “We don’t realise, but we see things in other senses too. Then we process the information, and that brings us back to past feelings as we make a connection to what we experienced before.” The mind’s inclination towards a sense of order impacts how we see, too. Hirai points out how if you see “something broken, and it looks a little bit strange or incorrect to the eye, we try to adjust that in our head. If it’s not complete, it’s completed in our head. An optical illusion is created in that way.”

As well as textural variety, Hirai’s work is concerned with the subtlety of tone and the interaction between multiple layers of colour. This effect builds on the tendency to “complete” what we see through the eye. Hirai feels this liminality creates a sense of beauty. In her work, this is achieved through the use of white:

“I don’t use very bright colours, it’s more like tones. My white is like a veil. You can see through to something underneath; when you put a sheet of white all over, you can imagine something underneath. I like the saying “I am not interested in the moon without the cloud”. It’s a very cultural thing, perhaps Japanese especially. If the moon has a slight cloud, hiding the moon itself, and you can just see the shadow of the moon. That is more imaginative, more moody, and more beautiful than that big, round full moon and the clear sky”.

Portrait by Beth Evans

Hirai’s solo exhibition of her new work will be shown at Flow from the 8th July - 9th of September, including a private view on the 7th July. Hirai herself will join us at the gallery from 2-5pm.