Early in 2011, Guardian Garden will host “Dear unexpected visitors,” a solo exhibition of works by Manami Hayasaki, winner of the Grand Prize in the 2nd “1_WALL” Graphics Competition held in the spring of 2010. “1_WALL” is a series of open competitions, held separately in the categories of photography and graphics, launched in 2009 to supersede the earlier “Hitotsubo” competitions. A pamphlet prepared in tandem with this event will be available for purchase in the gallery.

Manipulations of space and light: the mysterious world of papercut installations
Manami Hayasaki creates installations configured by papercutting. Active mainly in London, she won the Grand Prize in the 2nd “1_WALL” Graphics Competition in 2010 for her experimental 3-dimensional wall-mounted works based on Darwin’sOn the Origin of Species. Her entry was highly acclaimed for its solid concept, exceptional level of execution, and its outstanding design commended as “befitting the ‘1_WALL’ competition.”
In her university days in Kyoto, Hayasaki studied Japanese traditional painting. Gradually, however, she became attracted to contemporary art and conceptual art, which afford the artist greater freedom of expression. In a quest to pursue art unconstrained by conventions and fixed conceptions, after graduation Hayasaki decided to test her potential by using London as her creative base. Here, in an environment more stimulating than she had ever experienced before, she delved into an array of creative genres. Among them, she soon found herself thoroughly engrossed in the art of papercutting, a pastime she had enjoyed from the time she was a child. Hayasaki says that the creative process of cutting by knife is both an exercise in focused mental concentration and an exhilarating enjoyment. The exquisite paper cuts born from her blade are amazingly detailed and overflow with a magical power of imagination, manipulating space and light to usher the viewer into a world of a different dimension.
For this, her first solo exhibition of this scale in Japan, Hayasaki will convert the entire gallery into a “garden” expressing images inhabiting her mind. In contrast to the universal themes she has explored until now—probing the mysteries of life, for example—in this exhibition Hayasaki turns her attention for the first time towards herself. She describes herself as “in-between”: wavering between London and Japan, and between her various creative processes. What scenes will this confrontation with her inner self plant in her garden?