Hitoko Okada Solo Exhibition Opening

Artist Hitoko Okada and Cambridge Art Galleries invites the community to celebrate the opening of Setsubun: sacred offerings to the divine divide on Saturday, November 30 at the Queen’s Square Gallery.

“Cambridge Art Galleries is pleased to host Okada in exhibiting three new installations and a reiteration of her ongoing work, Hive, in the Queen’s Square Gallery.” expressed Karly Boileau, exhibition curator. “The new works mark a return to ceramics for Okada and a continuation of her textile practice that critically engages with the global fashion supply chain as it relates to colonial histories of fast fashion.”

Themes of the Exhibition

With a focus on a slow-making process through a Japanese heritage craft practice, Hitoko Okada’s major solo exhibition explores new ceramic and textile works that critically engage with and question the global fashion supply chain as it relates to colonial histories of fast fashion. Her works draw inspiration from geological processes and metabolic evolution of fungi, to apply ancestral knowledge in a present-day context to re-imagine futurisms and ways of being through a queer lens. 

Setsubun is an annual festival that has its roots in Shinto, marking the seasonal divide from winter to spring in the Japanese lunar calendar.

If you want to explore further, there is also a Setsubun: sacred offerings to the divine divide reading list, featuring library collection items inspired by connected questions and themes.

Special Opening Event and Display Period

The community is invited to a special opening event on Saturday, November 30 to tour the gallery and meet the artist. The event will begin with Okada leading a casual tour highlighting specific works and themes, followed by an artwork activation.

Setsubun: sacred offerings to the divine divide will be on display in the Queen’s Square Gallery from November 30, 2024 to February 23, 2025.