石本 美帆 Miho Ishimoto

Form / Break / Flow

Miho Ishimoto creates works in which character forms and recompositions are constructed through flexible and multifaceted interpretations. Her practice is distinguished by lines and ink tones that convey a sense of warmth and physical presence. With the hope that her works will continue to live on even after she herself is gone, Ishimoto is constantly attentive to what she calls the “breathing of the line” in her process.

At the core of her practice lies the theme of “what changes and what remains unchanged.” She often chooses words that evoke life and death, impermanence, constancy, and the relationship between the individual and the whole. These themes are deeply informed by her personal experiences of loss—the death of her younger sister in childhood and her father in early adulthood—which have instilled in her a profound awareness that life and death always exist side by side.

Ishimoto also holds a strong interest in the history of written characters and the inherent fascination of their forms. In her creative process, she mentally deconstructs existing characters into their constituent elements, only to reassemble them anew from her own contemporary perspective. By enlarging small elements, extending short strokes, intentionally distorting lines, or shifting their positions—bringing them closer together or pulling them apart—she continuously searches for forms that are uniquely her own.

This process represents a quiet resistance to the fixed notion of characters as something merely to be “read.” At the same time, it serves as a personal message: a reminder to live without being bound by rigid conventions, and instead to remain faithful to one’s true feelings. Text : Gallery KITAI