Kusumi's artworks, which are created using only photographs he has taken himself of various places, people, buildings, animals, etc., which he processes using digital technology (digital collages) and layer on top of each other many photographs, reconstruct the real landscapes that we all see. Nissho also uses familiar motifs rooted in his own life and the landscapes of Tokachi as his subject matter, but rather than simply copying the actual scenery, he expresses his own unique realism that he reconstructs in his mind in his paintings, and there is a commonality between the creative activities of these two artists.

Nissho's paintings, left to the present day, exist as a medium through which the artist's presence can be felt vividly. How did Nissho live, and what did he leave behind? By tracing Nissho's traces and memories through the hands of an artist living in a different era, we attempt to get closer to Nissho's perception of "society" and "the world," and ultimately the "existence" of Kanda Nissho.

<Exhibiting Artist Profile>
■Erika Kusumi
Born in Sapporo, Hokkaido in 1982. He began working as a freelance photographer in 2005, and is currently affiliated with the creative shared office "tab," while working in many fields, including as a photographer and visual artist. As a visual artist, he creates "digital collage" works using only photographs he has taken and digitally processed them. In 2020, he received the 48th Sapporo City Cultural Encouragement Award and the 30th Dogin Art and Culture Encouragement Award.

Major exhibitions he has participated in include "VOCA Exhibition 2019" (The Ueno Royal Museum/2019), "Journey to the Predawn" (GALLERY SCENA, Tokyo/2023), "We Are Made of Layers" (GALLERY MoNMA/2024), and "Learning from the Past" (SanHo Art Lab, Tainan, Taiwan/2024).