ARTIST PORTFOLIO

From China to Canada, this artist’s style is inspired by the meeting of the human mind and nature, learns Beren Neale

CATNAP “To be surrounded by a mass of napping cats would be a supremely toasty experience.”

Koyamori moved with her family to Toronto, Canada, on 16 January 1999, immediately after an historic winter storm had buried the city in four feet of snow. It was so bad the army was called upon to dig out the streets. She was 11 years old, and something about the epic force of nature has stuck with her since. “It was definitely a shocking introduction to Canada,” Koyamori recalls. “It was the first time in my life I saw that much snow.”

This was not the first big move in Koyamori’s life. Born in China, she followed her parents as they pursued studies and later jobs, first to Japan, then North America. In China, she lived in Changchun and Siping (Jilin province), jumping between the homes of both grandparents, as her mum and dad established themselves in Japan. “I remember big family dinners, watching TV together, my grandfather’s bag of ginger candy… In Japan, I lived in Moroyama and Ogose (Saitama Prefecture). It was a mountainous and nature-filled area, so me and friends would often bike to nearby waterfalls, catch crayfish and frog eggs from ponds.”

PLATFORM “The painting was made during Covid lockdowns. It illustrates how life feels at a standstill, as if waiting for transport from one platform to another.”

NOW “A thought about how sometimes it’s difficult to be in the present. How if you were falling, the present would be all you could think about.”

It’s here that the first theme arises in the artist’s story: the looming influence and inspiration of nature in Koyamori’s life and work. It’s present in the artist’s most vivid recollections of childhood, in nearly every organic line in her art, even in her chosen nickname. “Koyamori means a small gecko,” explains the artist, who prefers not to use her given name or publish any photos of herself when promoting her work.

NOT QUITE A HOBBY

Perhaps oddly for a professional artist, growing up “art was always around, but more like an activity that didn’t quite reach a hobby,” says Koyamori. “In Japan’s elementary school, art is quite encouraged, so we’d have classes with a variety of activities such as watercolour, wood carving, clay and calligraphy, but I only started drawing in my own time in grade 10, in Toronto.”