From 28 June 2025, the Fukushi Bunka Kaikan in the Japanese city of Ibaraki will host an exhibition entitled “Nohara no ue de – On the field”. The work of two female artists from Warsaw, Edyta Hul and Róża Litwa, will be juxtaposed with pieces by Chie Matsui and Nana Kuromiya from Japan. The exhibition is part of a programme promoting Polish culture in Japan as part of the World EXPO 2025 in Osaka.
Meadow and field – a space where consciousness and intuition meet
“Nohara no ue de” (Japanese for “in the meadow”) is an exhibition exploring common and contrasting themes in the work of female artists from different cultural backgrounds: Edyta Hul and Róża Litwa from Poland, and Chie Matsui and Nana Kuromiya from Japan. The title refers to “land” – the symbolic ground from which their artistic attitudes grow, as well as to the cultural landscape of Poland and Japan. Nohara, meaning “meadow”, is a Japanese word for an open, natural, unordered space covered with wild vegetation. It may also bring to mind the word “field” – one of the etymological sources of the word “Poland” in Polish. In this sense, the meadow becomes both a real and imagined space – a symbolic meeting place where artists encounter the conscious and the unconscious.
The real SOU project showcases the work of four female artists whose deeply reflective creations, imbued with contemplations on time, life and death, open up a space for dialogue and mutual resonance. At the same time, each of them remains rooted in its own cultural landscape – their own “meadow”. The juxtaposition of these four different attitudes reveals the relationships between the individual and society, experience and image, narrative and era. The exhibition becomes a space for exchange, understanding, and coexistence between female artists from Poland and Japan.
Polish and Japanese female artists at an exhibition in Ibaraki
Poland and Japan differ not only in their history, but also in their approach to art. Poland – a country with a turbulent past, shifting borders, and a deeply rooted need for expression – has made culture a tool for building identity, both personal and collective. Multilayeredness, metaphoricality and symbolism were a response to the need to disguise content in times of censorship and oppression. The complexity of this art stemmed from the need to find a language of expression despite the imposed limitations. Japan, on the other hand, an island nation focused on the future, often sees culture as part of everyday consumption. The memory of the past is easily lost there, and art often takes on a superficial form. In this context, it is still an open question whether Japan can be understood from the outside, whether its visual language transcends cultural boundaries, and what the meaning of its art is within Western contemporary art structures.
The stories of the hardships of creation during times of oppression were repeatedly told during the visit of the One Art Project curators to Poland. The reflection on how these experiences shape contemporary art language became one of the impulses for putting together the voices of female artists from different worlds. “Nohara no ue de” poses questions about the possibility of transcending borders through art. It asks about women’s shared experiences – what they see, experience, and think – and whether their perspective can be interpreted independently of their cultural context.
The exhibition “real SOU 15 Nohara no ue de – On the Field”, photo by Kuba Celej / AMI
The exhibition “real SOU 15 Nohara no ue de – On the Field”
The works on display can be viewed at the Fukushi Bunka Kaikan (Community Cultural Centre), which has been closed to the public and converted into a temporary art gallery for the exhibition. The project is carried out in cooperation with the City of Ibaraki and the artist-curator duo One Art Project, who have been running a series of SOU exhibitions at JR Sōjiji station since 2018. This is the second part of the SOU #15 project – both its instalments form a coherent narrative, intertwining the perspectives of Poland and Japan.
About the exhibition “real SOU 15 Nohara no ue de – On the Field”
- Duration: 28 June – 13 July 2025
- Location: Fukushi Bunka Kaikan, Ibaraki
- Artists: Edyta Hul, Róża Litwa, Chie Matsui, Nana Kuromiya
- Co-organised by: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, One Art Project, City of Ibaraki
- Concept and execution: One Art Project
- Expert consultations: Paweł Pachciarek (AMI), Akiko Kasuya
- Partner: Polish Investment and Trade Agency
The programme promoting Polish culture in Japan during the World EXPO 2025 in Osaka is organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute under the slogan Po!land ポ！ランド and financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. It is part of Poland’s official participation in the World EXPO 2025 大阪・関西万博 Osaka, Kansai, organised by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency under the slogan Heritage that drives the future.