Sayaka Abe

Sayaka Abe’s work starts with a question about people who she has encountered. She examines different stories like a painful situation somewhere in someone’s life; someone being lonely by growing old; or someone losing its senses by city life. Stories that unfold or become uncovered through Abe’s own experiences and the communication that she shares with people around her. She transforms these experiences into 3D drawings and intimate spaces. She uses life-sized drawings in order to provide people, herself included, a way to reflect on themselves through the works.

Through five years of living and studying in The Netherlands Abe learned that drawing became the way of expressing herself. She discovered that within Japanese culture communication has more often a visual and nonverbal form than a linguistic one as in Europe. Due to this drawing has become an important form of communication for Abe, originated from her own background.

Living here she is motivated by the contrasts between Japan and the Netherlands and therefore she would like to explore this crossing of both cultures more in detail. Another important aspect of her work is the ability to invite visitors into the work to explore what kind of tangible experience it can bring. Whether by way of presentation, space, situation, sound, lighting or material Abe would like to leave space for the visitor to reflect upon themselves.