About the Exhibition

　Born in the city of Naha, Okinawa prefecture, Tamiko Makishi encountered works of dyeing and weaving artist Fukumi Shimura when she studied at an art university in Tokyo. That encounter led her into the art of weaving and dyeing. After graduating from university and returning to Okinawa, she started studying textiles on her own and became entranced by sumi ink dyeing (sumizome).
　“What is very interesting about sumi dyeing is that you can’t predict the outcome,” says Makishi, “I find the beauty of natural balance in the shades and the uneven tints of the sumi and undyed areas.” The sound of the wind and the glimmering lights of the islands overlap with the forms in Makishi’s mind, generating the quiet melodies of sumi ink in her works.