#2

Naoko Fukumaru

“My practice explores repair as both a material process and a conceptual framework through the philosophy and technique of Kintsugi. Rooted in over 28 years of experience in ceramic conservation, my work engages objects as carriers of history, where fracture, intervention, and restoration reveal layered narratives of use, damage, and care. Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with urushi lacquer and gold, informs my practice both technically and philosophically. Rather than concealing damage, I emphasize fracture as an integral part of an object’s life. The repaired surface becomes a site of transformation where breakage is neither erased nor hidden, but rearticulated as a visible and meaningful element. My work bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary art. While grounded in historical techniques, I incorporate ceramic fragments and materials from diverse cultural and geographic contexts. This cross-cultural methodology reflects my background in museum conservation and positions my practice within broader conversations surrounding material culture, preservation, displacement, and memory. Since relocating to Canada, my work has increasingly engaged with place-based narratives and cultural histories. Recent projects developed with the Nikkei National Museum incorporate materials connected to Vancouver’s Japanese Canadian community and former sites of displacement. Through these gestures, repair becomes a way of reactivating history and making it materially present. At its core, my practice considers how objects — and human experience — transform through rupture. By foregrounding care, continuity, and change, my work reflects on resilience not as a return to an original state, but as an ongoing process of adaptation and renewal.”