Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka 生於 1988 年，為日裔加拿大藝術家，現生活與工作往返於多倫多、紐約及國際駐村計畫。其作品曾於 Walk&Talk Biennial (Azores, PT)、Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo, JP)、Harper’s Gallery (New York, USA)、the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, CA)、Toronto Biennial of Art 及日本高知 Ino-cho Paper Museum 等機構與畫廊展出，並將參與今年第 61 屆威尼斯雙年國際藝術展。其作品亦獲多個重要機構收藏，包括大英博物館、達拉斯藝術博物館、新加坡國家美術館、滋賀縣立美術館 與Wellin Museum of Art。此外，她亦曾於 Black Rock Senegal 進行藝術家駐村，在不同文化脈絡與地景之間持續展開創作與對話。

藝術家的創作承繼歷史悠久的工藝傳統，包括手工造紙、天然染料、油氈版畫、魚拓（無毒實魚印刷）與和紙技術。這些蘊含環境倫理與身體技藝之智慧的工藝，在生態危機與科技快速變遷之下逐漸式微。藝術家透過縫製紙雕塑、大型版畫裝置、可穿戴式和紙（kamiko）創作及與表演者合作等多元形式，使材料重新獲得行動力，回應氣候變遷與

心理健康等當代議題。Alexa 於高北極地區長達十年的社群計畫，以及自身雙相情緒障礙的生命經驗，深刻形塑了她的創作脈絡。作品中反覆出現的風景、魚與水的意象，既指涉自然環境的脆弱與循環，也映照個人與集體的掙扎、韌性與喜悅——如纖維般層層交織。藝術家擁抱那些長期被邊緣化的身體知識與感知系統——神經多樣性、生態智慧與文化記憶——將其視為連結當下與未來的重要方法與工具。

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka (b. 1988) is a Japanese Canadian artist who lives and works between Toronto, New York and international residencies. Her work has been exhibited at Walk&Talk Biennial (Azores, PT), Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo, JP), Harper’s Gallery (New York, USA), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, CA), the Toronto Biennial of Art, and the Ino-cho Paper Museum in Kochi, Japan, among other institutions and galleries. She will also participate in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Her work is held in the collections of major institutions including the British Museum, Dallas art museum, National Gallery Singapore, the Shiga Museum of Art, and the Wellin Museum of Art. Hatanaka has also been a resident artist at Black Rock Senegal, where her practice continues to develop through dialogue across diverse cultural contexts and landscapes.

Hatanaka’s practice builds upon long-standing craft traditions, including hand papermaking, natural dyes, linocut printmaking, gyotaku (non-toxic fish printing), and washi techniques. Embedded with environmental ethics and embodied knowledge, these craft practices have gradually diminished amid accelerating ecological crisis and rapid technological change. Through paper sculptures sewn by hand, large-scale print installations, wearable kamiko (garments made from washi), and collaborative performances with dancers, Hatanaka reactivates these materials as agents of movement

and transformation while addressing contemporary concerns such as climate change and mental health. Her decade-long community-based projects in the High Arctic, along with her lived experience with bipolar disorder, have profoundly shaped the conceptual framework of her work. Recurring motifs of landscape, fish, and bodies of water evoke both the fragility and cyclical rhythms of the natural world, while reflecting personal and collective experiences of struggle, resilience, and joy — interwoven like fibers. Hatanaka embraces forms of embodied knowledge and sensory systems that have long been marginalized—neurodiversity, ecological wisdom, and cultural memory—approaching them as vital tools for connecting the present with possible futures.