Sophie Knezic

2001 Kamiyama Artist in Residence Participant
In Kamiyama from October 1 to November 12, 2001

Born in Australia, 1969. Postgraduate diploma in Fine Art, Victoria College of the Arts. Knezic has further developed her art by investigating various aspects of the natural world. She is a visual artist who expresses the patterns and beauty found in plants, insects, and other organic objects through large paper installations. Knezic has a particular interest in the regional arts of Kamiyama, such as ningyo joruri (a kind of puppet theater) and fusuma-e (screen door painting). She also appreciates the textures found in washi (traditional Japanese paper). Knezic used the mediums of silk and washi to produce her major work at KAIR, a semi-transparent screen entitled "Wishing Fields".

To say "delicate" would be a cliché,
but maybe that is the truest word.
A quiet sigh carries mysterious beings beyond
the mountains… We see two layers of a soft,
light, transparent veil fluttering in the evening
sunlight, almost like an angel's feathered robe.
The spirit of the forest's depths, possessed by
a slender woman from the islands of the South.
We see erotic water. The ripples of water
are inside our bodies. My whole life is just a
thread in the pattern of the cosmos.
Until we all cease to be, and become wind…
(Musashino Art University, Department of Art Culture Professor: Ryu Niimi)