2025 | glass beads | fusing (author’s own technique)

Where Emotions Dwell is my latest series of six glass works created from industrial glass beads, inspired by the natural structure of sea-urchin shells. First exhibited at the Doctoral Examination Exhibition at the University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, the series represents the culmination of six years of research and artistic development during my time in Japan. It materially visualizes the shifts in my aesthetic sensibilities and my evolving attitude toward the creative process.

In the exhibition, Where Emotions Dwell was shown alongside one work from my master’s graduation series Feeling Fragile and three works from the series At the End of Existence. On the opposite wall, five photographs documented several earlier works created in the Czech Republic, offering viewers a glimpse into my artistic practice prior to moving to Japan.

Together, these elements formed a comprehensive installation that mirrored the structure of my doctoral thesis. The exhibition invited viewers to trace a twelve-year journey—from my earliest works to the present—and to follow the path that eventually led me to glass beads as a primary medium. By juxtaposing photographs of my earlier works with the glass-bead sculptures created in Japan, viewers could directly perceive how my artistic sensibility and style evolved throughout my years in Japan.

The series Where Emotions Dwell reflects five key transformations in my artistic practice:
• the courage to experiment,
• an understanding that there are multiple paths toward concept formation,
• an appreciation for chance and organic form,
• an awareness of the interconnectedness between self and nature,
• and, finally, the realization that making can serve not only as a means of conveying a concept but also as a way of understanding oneself.

Where Emotions Dwell grew from a quiet encounter with the emotions I have carried for many years—grief, longing, and the heaviness that sits in the chest. Over time, I came to see that even painful emotions are an irreplaceable part of who I am. Accepting them allows me to return to myself.

This series became a place of reconciliation—
a shell in which I could hold these emotions gently,
and finally let them go.

photo: Shini’chi Ichikawa