emi tomita
memories of tomorrow
ON VIEW FROM: 12/10/2025 - 2/21/2026
“Memories of Tomorrow” unfolds like a dream suspended between yesterday and what hasn’t yet arrived. Emi Tomita’s intricate paper cut compositions create a quiet world where delicate silhouettes seem to hold entire lifetimes within their fine edges. There’s a soft ache beneath the beauty. An understanding that memory is both a comfort and a trickster, reshaping our past into something just slightly more luminous than it ever was.
Tomita draws from traditional Japanese practices, but her approach is unmistakably contemporary. Instead of grand gestures, she builds significance from restraint. Negative space becomes a voice, shadows become characters, and the hand-cut forms feel like an emotion just out of reach. Each piece invites the viewer to lean closer, as if listening for the whisper of a story that might disappear if observed too directly.
Emi Tomita is a Japanese papercut artist based in Saitama, Japan. Self-taught and with over fourteen years dedicated to her art, she creates intricate works inspired by nature and human connection. She has exhibited in Japan, the U.S., and France, including at the Carrousel du Louvre (2024). In 2025, she received the Japan Art Honorary Grand Prize at the 2nd Paris Art Expo.
Emi on the show:
My work draws inspiration from personal memory and is focused on themes of nature, community, friendship, and family. I am particularly drawn to small moments, observed with child-like curiosity and wonder: picking fruit, falling leaves, touching hands, fleeting details of sensitivity and warmth.