Mizuki Nishiyama Solo Exhibition
M Gallery, CICA Museum
January 29 – February 2, 2025
2025.1.29 – 2.2
In Flux: Dialogues Between Body, Ritual, and Time
In Flux: Dialogues Between Body, Ritual, and Time is a solo exhibition by acclaimed artist Mizuki Nishiyama, featuring works from her pivotal series Fragility (2016), Seiza (2021), and Bodies in Landscapes (2023). Spanning over eight years and the cultural landscapes of New York, London, Hong Kong, and Milan, Nishiyama’s evolving visual language navigates dualities of fragility and strength, constraint and liberation, reflecting themes of tradition, environment, and self-exploration. The exhibition showcases ten works of varying scale, revealing cycles of growth, decay, and renewal through organic materials such as ancestral soil and oil, emphasizing the physicality and depth of her practice. In the Seiza series, she reimagines the formal Japanese sitting posture as a symbolic exploration of control and empowerment, where the seated figure dissolves into abstraction, embodying endurance and quiet rebellion. Meanwhile, Bodies in Landscapes embraces heightened abstraction, merging human forms with elemental surroundings, drawing on the Shinto concept of Kami to evoke fluidity between self and nature. Curated to create a layered narrative, the exhibition transitions from meditative stillness in Seiza to the dynamic abstraction of Bodies in Landscapes, reflecting cycles of containment and release that resonate with the evolving female experience. In Flux: Dialogues Between Body, Ritual, and Time transcends conventional portrayals of identity, blending narrative, materiality, and spirituality to explore impermanence and resilience, offering a contemplative meditation on memory, transformation, and the spaces women occupy across time.
Mizuki Nishiyama is a contemporary mixed Japanese artist known for her exploration of cultural memory, identity, and the female experience. Mizuki Nishiyama holds a Master of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design. With a practice spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media, she integrates organic materials and traditional techniques, creating works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. Her work has been exhibited internationally, reflecting her global perspective and deep engagement with themes of transformation and renewal.