About the artwork

The artist cultivated tree and shrub seedlings collected from the satoyama of the Matsunoyama area, using them as “elements of the forest.” Each seedling was numbered and signed by the artist and was exhibited for sale. The entire process of seed collection, seedling cultivation, and potting in plastic cups was carried out with the help of local villagers. The money from sales was returned to the village. In addition, the artist painted at total of 52 landscapes from the Sansho district, which were exhibited for sale at Sansho House. In these paintings, local villagers discovered new aspects of familiar landscapes. Some of the visitors went looking for the real landscapes with the aid of a guide map indicating where the scenes were painted.