This space features a large-scale calligraphy installation by Japanese artist Sawamura Sumiko, who redefines calligraphy not merely as a textual art, but as a performative act—where body, time, and space converge.

For Sawamura, writing is not a means of conveying information, but an artistic practice that captures the rhythm and breath of existence itself. The seven works presented here are composed of large, hand-written ink characters on paper. Each mark is the trace of an intense, meditative gesture—executed in full concentration and presence.

While the titles are derived from the characters written in each piece, a poetic layer of interpretation unfolds in translation. For instance, the piece titled 〈阿吽〉 (A-un), which in Buddhist cosmology signifies the beginning and end of the universe—inhale and exhale—is translated in English as A to Z, highlighting the temporal and cyclical nature of language.

Another series, 〈山川草木〉 (Mountains, Rivers, Grass, and Trees), traditionally symbolizes the wholeness of nature. Yet its English title, Lines, shifts focus away from the semantic to the visual movement of strokes—emphasizing rhythm, form, and the physicality of writing.

Sawamura often employs unconventional tools—brushes made from bundled towels, plastic bottles filled with ink—allowing the tactile interaction between body and tool to be directly inscribed on the surface. Her writing is closer to drawing with the body than composing legible text.

Through this process, she transcends the outward form of characters. Her work invites viewers to engage with the silence, the negative space, and the material flow of ink—reimagining the contemporary sensibility of sumuk, or ink-based practice.

For Sawamura, “neighborness” is not defined by shared language or identity, but by a sensorial resonance—an unspoken dialogue enacted through gesture and embodied rhythm.