WINNER Paper on Skin 2022 Major Award $5000
Kaori refers to her garment as a hand-folded wearable abstract sculpture. The title, Bilateral Relations refers both to the human form and the colours which reference the relationship between Australia and Japan.
Kato says she spent several weeks developing and designing the ideas - much more than actual production time. ‘I always think too much before doing something!’
All the patterns are folded by hand, and the garment was created from around 13 large sheets of paper (788mm x 1091mm).
The activity of folding paper originally began early in Kaori’s childhood. ‘The process is one of the methods of searching for myself. When I am folding the paper, I have to touch it hundreds of thousands of times and I find this activity to be the most absorbing as it makes me think about and explore who I am’.
Kaori obtained her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts (Honours) in 2009 and her master’s degree in Visual Art in 2010 from the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne.
Since returning to Japan in 2013, her work has featured in numerous local and international shows and events. In 2019, for example, she was commissioned to show her works at the Museum of Contemporary Sculpture in Matera, Italy, and ran several workshops for students alongside the exhibition. Her work was part of the Vancouver Fashion Week in 2019, and the Western Canada Fashion Week in 2020.
During October/Nov 2022, Kaori has a solo exhibition at KANDA NISSHO Memorial Museum of Art in Shikaoi, Japan.
Materials: paper, elastic band, glue, and hooks.
Kaori Kato on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kaori_kato_artist/?hl=en