I would love my art to be about how important and brilliant our planet is for all life.

In the field of “Environmental Art” Japanese “environmental artist” Shoko Miki   mainly uses some sort of natural resources as the art materials; soil, stones, wood, trees, leaves and so on. She has been to Fukushima many times to photograph the silent voices of the tiny plants which have lived there alone since March 11, 2011. She also kept making installations with the photos for the people who have suffered diverse calamities all over the world, not only in Japan. Shoko Miki believes that continuing these artistic projects is her life’s work, as all as “praying for” and constructing a “no more” attitude. Recently, she was here to attend the 7th International Art Meet organized by The Stadel in association with Dimension 4 (a nonprofit artists’ organization in Kolkata).

Your primary focus has been on environmental art. What drew you to that? What is your creative process like?

In the field of “Environmental Art”, I mainly use natural resources like soil, sands, stones, wood, and leaves. I would love my art to be about how important and brilliant our planet is for all life.

Where do you derive your inspiration from?

I am inspired by many natural things living on our precious planet and they always encourage me to continue creating more art.

What do you believe is a key element in creating a good composition?

I believe that nature is as it should be, I simply bring into the key elements my environmental art instead of attempting to make a good composition.

What message do you want to convey through your artworks?

I would like to express and share earth's irreplaceable natural elements with the viewers through my artworks. Unfortunately, it seems so difficult to convey my feelings with words.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

I often say to myself “You can do it as you want, never stop believing. You or anybody else does not know what will happen next in your life. Art is long, life is short.” I hope this message will be good at motivating new artists.

Could you tell us a bit about the future projects that you have lined up?

In January 2017, my exhibition, ‘Takarabune Exhibition’, will be held at the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan. In March, there will be the 'Dialogue with Fukushima 2017’ exhibition at the Williamsburg Historical Art Centre, New York, USA. And in June, there will be the ‘Terra-cotta Biennale in Indonesia’ at the ARWA Museum, Bali, Indonesia.