Exhibition “Shimura Fukumi: Her Vocation to Weave Life” is Opening!

Exhibition room (taken during the first half period: July 4–August 2, 2020). Photo provided by Himeji City Museum of Art

“Plants provide us with the splendid colours that they possess for nothing in return” —Fukumi Shimura, 2014 Kyoto Prize laureates in Arts and Philosophy

The exhibition “Shimura Fukumi: Her Vocation to Weave Life” is running at Himeji City Museum of Art in Hyogo prefecture until August 30, 2020. This exhibition explores some 60 years of life and work of Ms. Shimura, a dyeing and weaving artist who is designated as Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure).
Ms. Shimura received the 2014 Kyoto Prize as an artist in constant pursuit of the fundamental human value of harmonious coexistence with nature through the artistic creation of tsumugi (pongee) Kimono on the basis of folk wisdom.

Visitors can enjoy her major tsumugi kimono works mainly from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Shiga. A visual and sound installation “Philosophy of Tsumugi: The World of Fukumi Shimura” is shown at the exhibition and also available online.
For detailed information, please see the Museum’s website (English auto-translation available).