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I began making tree rubbings over 20 years ago…

There was a place that I visited when I wanted to find a path, warm, beautiful light,
the trees were there no matter what happened.

I started collecting tree surfaces on Washi, to memorize what I felt at that place.
Then eventually, I traveled to many places. 

Japanese tree, American tree, African, Roman, Iraqi, they are different places.
Yet the rubbings look the same in my studio. 

”

What began as a practice of healing, soon became a lifelong effort at reflecting a unified world, through tree rubbings, Japanese Washi paper and charcoal.

Washi comes from the fiber of the tree bark, and the charcoal is created by Miyamori, by burning fallen tree branches and bark on site. She then places the washi on the surface of the tree, and uses the charcoal to create frottages or rubbings. In that moment, three stages or iterations in the life of a tree come together, and that moment of unity in time is captured in her rubbings.

The locations she selects for her rubbings vary - sometimes they are historical sites, sometimes they are locations that make up her daily life and some she has passed by only once, never to return to again. While the locations are significantly different from one another, the layers they make look indistinguishable, revealing a deeper truth about our existence. This is Miaymori’s way of paying homage to each moment experienced, while letting go of the need to place them in any hierarchy - they appear to be the same through the lens of the tree.

As her practice evolved, so did Miyamori’s initial idea of what the rubbings could represent to those interacting with her art. She spent time creating rubbings of trees scheduled for uprooting during urbanization, in order to preserve them in some form for people to connect with, long after they were gone. She began transposing her rubbings onto man-made objects, to explore the link between humans and nature as reflections of one another. In Tsunagu: My Favorite Book, she curated a selection of books from various philosophies and religions covered them in layers of Washi to create a unified bookshelf of diverse ideas. Often her rubbings and objects encased in them make their way to different countries and different people, to build connections between them.

As her practice grows, so do the themes and concepts she communicates through this singular act. Below is a small collection from a lifetime spent revealing a unified, and interconnected world. A more detailed collection can be found on her Instagram page here.