BIO

Emi Wanibuchi is a Tokyo-based contemporary artist.

Working primarily with traditional Japanese painting materials such as washi paper, mineral pigments, sumi ink, and gold and silver leaf, she explores distance, parallel relationships, memory, time, and the conditions of human existence.

Rooted in a family history connected to iron across generations, her practice reflects an ongoing interest in metal and material memory. While painting remains central to her work, she has also created installations and public artworks using Japanese National Railways steel rails manufactured in 1965. An awareness of nature and spirituality, shaped in part by her family’s samurai lineage, quietly underlies her practice.

Her 2024 series A New Planet marked a significant development in her practice, expanding both her material experimentation and thematic scope, and drawing attention as a body of work representative of her recent artistic direction.

In 2025, her work Pandora’s Box was longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize and featured in the Aesthetica Art Prize Magazine. The previous year, she received the Takahiro Komatsu Prize at The 10th SHIBUYA ART AWARDS 2024, held at Elephant Studio in Tokyo.

Recent exhibitions include The 10th SHIBUYA ART AWARDS 2024 Prize Exhibition (Tokyo, 2025) and group exhibitions with Takenoko-kai Japanese Art at the Nihon Bijutsuin (The Japan Art Institute) in Tokyo in 2023,2024 and 2025. In 2026, she presented Open Atelier by the Sea and the Grass: Seeing, Drawing, and Being at Sea Square, Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan.

CV

Born in 1968 in Yokosuka Kanagawa,Japan.

Resides and works in Tokyo, Japan

EDUCATION/TRAINING :

1974-1981, Jyun Furusawa Art School Kanagawa,Japan

2001-2017, Kyogen Izumi Style (similar to traditional Japanese Noh Theatre.

The master is Manzo Nomura Ⅸ ) Tokyo,Japan

2007-2009, Voice Studies Bill Pepper Head of Voice Studies, NIDA -National Institute of Dramatic Art ,Sydney, Australia

2022-2025, Takeshi Nagai Japanese Art School Tokyo,Japan

2024-2025, Yabuta Kashu , Yuri Nakabayashi Kyoto Hanging roll school, Tokyo ,Japan

AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, GRANTS :

2025,
･ Aesthetica Art Prize 2025 , Longlist, UK
･ Takahiro Komatsu Prize,The 10th SHIBUYA ART AWARDS2024
SHIBUYA ART AWARDS, Elephant Studio ,Tokyo, Japan

2024,
･ Mr. & Mrs. Abe Arts & Culture Prize 2024,Selected Artist, Japan



SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2026,
　　･Open Atelier by the Sea and the Grass ー Seeing, Drawing, and Being , Sea Square , Yokosuka Museum of Art ,Kanagawa , Japan

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS :

2025,
･ Aesthetica Art Prize 2025, Longlist Exhibition, York art gallery,UK
･ CHIYODA × SHIBUGEI SHIBUYA ART AWARDS, Le Ginglet, Tokyo,
Japan
･ The 10th SHIBUYA ART AWARDS 2024 Prize exhibition, Elephant Studio,
Tokyo, Japan

2023-2025,
･ Takenoko kai Group Exhibition The Japan Art Institute, Tokyo,Japan

SELECTED PRESS :

2026,
　　･Interview on SHONAN PLAY GROUND, FM YOKOHAMA SHONAN BY THE SEA , Japan
　　･Tokyo Art Beat - Exhibition listing, 2026

2025,
･ Aesthetica Art Magazine,UK
2024,
･ Mr. & Mrs. Abe Arts Culture Prize 2024 ” Maison Catalog ,Japan

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES :
Selected professional actives include international workshops and lecture I Noh and Kyogen performance in Portugal, Chile , and Australia.