Artistic connections made between poles of the spiritual axis

Japan and New Zealand have a special relationship: the communities of Northeastern Asia and the Antipodes were referred to by the Guardian as constituting “a spiritual axis —an axis whose northern and southern poles will act as powerful magnets, endowed with exceptional spiritual potency”.

Dame Robin White has recently returned to New Zealand after several months in Japan with her husband, Michael Fudakowski. Because of the special artistic collaborations Robin was engaging in while there, Bahá’í Aotearoa sought information to share. Michael has provided us with the following explanation.

“Greetings from Northern Japan, where today we finally met one of the scattered Bahá'ís of this region. The photo is taken this afternoon in the vast studio space at the Aomori Contemporary Arts Centre, where Emi Chiba came to visit us, after we had effected contact via a Tokyo Bahá'í community website and an exchange of emails. Emi is the principal of a school two hours’ drive away, and she had education business in Aomori City so came to say hello after her meeting. This was the first time to meet, and we are planning to have a weekend together... Emi heard about the Faith from Don and Norrie Blanks when she was a Japanese volunteer teaching Japanese language at a high school in Vava'u, Tonga, where Norrie also taught.

“When Robin was offered a four-month residency in 2024 at the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (ACAC) in the north of Japan’s main island of Honshu, she was asked to work on woodblock prints. Robin had last made woodblock prints in 1995 in Kiribati—some readers may remember the two sets of four prints: The Fisherman Loses His Way and Sainimele Goes Fishing—so it was a daunting prospect to remember the techniques of that craft. But Aomori is well regarded for the practice of woodblock prints, and the ACAC boasts the world’s largest etching press capable of very large print sizes, so Robin took to the challenge.

“Although Robin had been attracted to the fact that it was spring in Japan in April, when she arrived the snow was still heavy on the ground and it was very cold. She was driven straight from the Aomori airport to a small cottage-café called Cosmos, a kilometer up the hill from ACAC, which itself is three kilometers up a long hill from the city. In the bitter cold of early spring she walked into a cosy place with a log-burner, a cat, some ceramic owls and a very friendly lady proprietor. The relief of entering this welcoming atmosphere resulted in subject matter for the first very large woodblock print Robin attempted. In the image there are two chairs, on which local celebrity artist Munakata Shiko is imagined deep in conversation with Henri Matisse. Before tackling that large image, however, Robin “warmed up” by making a series of thirty-six postcard-sized woodblocks exploring the immediate environment, the culture and the language. These have been mounted expertly in sets of four on nine traditional hanging scrolls known as kakejiku.

“We are having a very interesting time here, and Robin was invited to address a meeting at Hirosaki University of the Japan-New Zealand Society during their weekend symposium which had ‘Care’ as its primary theme.

“Robin did get here a month ahead of my arrival. That was early April for her. We met up in Tokyo and headed south for three weeks to Kyoto, Hiroshima and then Kochi city on Shikoku island, where Robin went up a steep mountainside to see paper being made in a traditional process (by hand) and bought some for her work. We had Gaylene Preston with us as well as a cameraman for some of it, as Gaylene is making a film about Robin.”

Robin has added: “For the exhibition that marks the end of the residency at ACAC the curators have prepared an education programme for children and youth. I thought you might like to see the brief piece that was written about one of my works called ‘Finding My Way in Aomori’ - a series of 36 postcard-size woodcuts. I was delighted to see how this text finishes...”

Short explanation of ‘Finding My Way in Aomori’
Robin White, the artist who is based in New Zealand came to Aomori in April to create her artwork. “There are so many crows here!” What we in Japan would consider normal are surprises and discoveries for Robin. She asked her friends questions about this and that. “How do you say in Japanese that there is a patch of snow on the ground?” “Why do we take off our shoes when we enter a room?” “Why do we tie trees with rope during the winter?” “Is there a Japanese word for the bond between people or animals?” Embracing Japanese culture and customs in Aomori and meeting different people in the process has taken Robin into a wider world. The distance from Japan to New Zealand is 9,346 kilometres; the seasons are opposite, the people are different, and the languages spoken are different. But in Aomori, Robin was reminded once again that the "one sun" shines equally in both places.

An article appeared in a Japanese newspaper, the English translation of which is as follows:

Collaboration of printmakers

Robin White, an artist from New Zealand who is currently working at Aomori (ACAC), has completed a large print called ‘A Meeting in the Cosmos’ made in collaboration with Takebayashi Yoshiko, a printmaker from the same city. The print is a homage to the works of the respected Henri Matisse and Munakata Shiko, and Robin was pleased with the finished work, saying, "It's a unique and special piece." The work will be on display at ACAC's exhibition ‘Currents/Undercurrents’ which began its second iteration on the 13th of July, featuring artists from Japan and abroad. On the 6th of July, as the production was reaching its final stage, under the watch of Takebayashi and others, the work was printed on one of the world's largest presses at ACAC. She smiled at the finished work, saying "So nice! It's a very large piece, but I'm very satisfied with the finished product”. “I'm also happy that Takebayashi and I could learn from each other," she said. The prints can be seen at "Currents/Undercurrents--The Dazzling Currents Meet Now". Takebayashi also expressed a sense of accomplishment, saying, "It's not often that I get to work on such large prints, so it was a good experience. As the title "Cosmos" suggests, I think it's a piece that makes you feel the universe of the two of us." The work will also be exhibited at the Aomori Woodblock Prints & Prints exhibition, a groundbreaking open-call exhibition to be held in November in Aomori City.

Robin was born in New Zealand in 1946. She moved to Kiribati in 1982 and began working on collaborative projects with local women who weave. She returned to New Zealand in 1999 and has been creating works that address contemporary issues using the knowledge and techniques of indigenous people. She has been interacting with female artists not only in the Pacific region but also in Japan. She has been staying at ACAC since this spring, and while searching for a motif for her work while touring various places in the prefecture, she met Takebayashi, who is also active at ACAC, and this led to their collaboration.

[Original newspaper article with photo below]

Photo gallery

Robin White and her husband Michael Fudakowski with members of the Bahá'í community of Aomori Prefecture, Japan.

The collaborative woodblock print art works. Select images to enlarge

Feature photo: Collaboration in action - Allegedly the world's biggest etching press, driven by an electric motor under the skilful handling of Mr Hashimoto. Robin is inking up the eighth component block and her collaborator Yoshiko is carefully checking some alignment.