Becoming

I read The Sea of Fertility by Yukio Mishima.

It left me with a profound and painful impression: although those around an individual may influence them, we can never step outside the boundaries of our own sensory perceptions and thoughts. In the end, we remain unable to escape them.

Even before encountering this book, I already had an idea that “the world is made of belief.” What we perceive as reality is, ultimately, real to the person experiencing it—regardless of what others may say.

My theme is what can be believed.
Information, value, science, philosophy—any system of thought.
None of them can be affirmed with certainty.

Yet I faced a more personal problem.
Before any philosophical concern, it was a very ordinary but challenging issue: I could not fully believe in myself.
And above all, I wanted to become someone I could trust.

So I took action.

Based on the hypothesis that by fully performing an image of an “ideal self,” I might become a more trustworthy version of myself, I began three forms of training—meditation, physical exercise, and drawing—through which I started the attempt to “produce” myself.

For me, all forms of artistic production are acts of organizing the world as I perceive it, and of gaining insight into myself. I believe these processes of organization and insight may eventually form a bridge between self and others, and between subjectivity and objectivity.

In this process, I became aware of two phenomena: a “fluid self” composed of constantly shifting combinations of various elements, and its mirror image: a “self that cannot easily change”.

And while I questioned whether my sense of reality itself should be doubted, I also felt that what we call the self may contain, as it is, something that transcends our understanding and our internal contradictions.

This exhibition presents an ongoing process that began nearly a year ago: an attempt to “produce a better self.”

In order to stabilize the illusion of my self.

▼Artist

Jasmine Fulford
(https://www.instagram.com/jasminefulford/)

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1988, she moved to the UK after graduating from Musashino Art University, where she completed her master’s degree at the University of the Arts London.

Currently based in Nagano, she creates artworks centered on 2D expressions, while expanding beyond the boundaries of traditional materials to occasionally incorporate 3D elements, video, and even her own body. After winning the Grand Prix at “Independent Tokyo 2021,” she continues to explore the consistent theme of “what can be believed” through exhibitions both in Japan and internationally.

▼Exhibition Information

【Date】2026/7/4(Sat) – 7/25(Sat)
【Open】12:00 – 19:00
【Close】Monday
【Location】TERRADA ART COMPLEX II 3F, 1-32-8 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002