Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka is a Japanese-Canadian, queer and disabled artist based in Toronto, an identity that sculpts her practice. Hatanaka draws from her training in print and papermaking techniques, connecting to her intentional use of historical land-based materials and processes. Her adaptations of traditions, in the form of large-scale print installations and wearable sculptures, address contemporary questions of climate change, mental health, and survival. Recurring motifs related to landscape, fish, and bodies of water together speak about personal and collective experiences of struggle and resilience.
Hatanaka’s practice is informed by her experience-based research and collaboration, including long term community-engaged projects in the high Arctic, and performances that integrate and reinterpret kamiko, garments sewn out of washi, Japanese paper.
Hatanaka has exhibited her work at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, CA), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, CA), The British Museum (London, UK), Toronto Biennial of Art (Toronto, CA), the Guanlan International Printmaking Base (Shenzhen, China), Nikkei National Museum (Burnaby, CA), Ino Cho Paper Museum (Kochi, Japan), and Harper’s (New York, USA).