YARITORI | Olga Sanina Residency & Exhibition “In Praise of Shadows | Under the Trees”

YARITORI | Olga Sanina Residency & Exhibition “In Praise of Shadows | Under the Trees”

The “YARITORI” residency program was launched in collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal in Japan and the Camões Institute, under the directorship of artist Vasco Mourão, a former participant in the PARADISE AIR Long Stay Program (2015). Established to support Portuguese artists, the program selected Olga Sanina from 173 applicants as its first invited artist. Sanina stayed in Matsudo for approximately 45 days to conduct research and develop new work.

Trees as Urban Memory
Sanina’s research focused on “war-damaged trees” that survived two major catastrophes in Tokyo: the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the Great Tokyo Air Raids of 1945. Referencing the study The Trees that Survived the Second World War in Japan by Professors Hirotsugu Kanno and Takayo Negishi, Sanina conducted fieldwork at various sites across Tokyo. She visited and documented surviving trees, such as the sacred Zelkova at Nitta Shrine (Ota Ward) and the carbonized Ginkgo at Iwai Shrine (Ota Ward), recording the scars and traces left on their trunks.

Process and Exhibition
Ephemeral elements such as leaves and bark collected during the research were preserved as herbariums. Sanina then incorporated these materials into mixed-media drawings using Washi paper, Japanese ink, graphite, and gold leaf. The residency concluded with the solo exhibition “In Praise of Shadows | Under the Trees” at the Embassy of Portugal in Japan. The exhibition presented the artist’s herbarium collection alongside “Echoes”, a new series of works portraying the resilience and memory of the surviving trees.