Kumi Yamashita

Foundation Wave consists of two works, a sculpture and a mural along with a sound component.. Both pieces consist of numerous profiles of various people of diverse race, age and gender where one stranger’s profile seemlessly transforms into anothers. The result as you walk around the sculpture is a wavy sphere morphing individual profiles into the next blurring any beginning or end. For the mural, the facial profiles ripple out like a cardiogram or a soundwave. Visitors can record their heart-beats using the recording device installed in the venue. The sound of multiple heartbeats is played simultaneously.

Fragments consists of  resin tiles which cast the shadow profiles of 40 New Mexican residents of different backgrounds and ethnicities, people I met while traveling throughout New Mexico in 2008. It is both testament and celebration of the people whose names may never make it into the history books or history museums, but who definitely make up the rich fabric of life in a pueblo, city, county, and state.

For this commission entitled Pathway, I was asked to create a work that would capture the spirit of the late progressive City Councilman Michael Hildt. This piece celebrates those who live a robust life, who open up doors for themselves and for others with vision and fortitude, as Michael Hildt did in his life of public service. 

Beckett In His Own Words was commissioned in 2000 by a theater based in Glasgow, Scotland to celebrate the works of acclaimed playwright Samuel Beckett. To create Beckett’s portrait, I took pages from Beckett’s handwritten notebooks and had embossed plates fabricated. I then used the technique of “frottage” - placing a fine paper over the plates and rubbing a graphite stick to have his words create his likeness.