Vielä ehtii nähdä Takuyo Kawachin taidetta Loviisan Laivasillalla! Näyttely on esillä torstaihin 16.7. asti. Ohessa taiteilijan kirjoitus matkustamisesta, valokuvauksesta, taiteesta ja siitä, miten hän päätyi Seattlessa, Milanossa ja Barcelonassa vietettyjen vuosien jälkeen Helsinkiin.

My parents are travelers by instinct; it is in my blood. My father who dreamed of becoming a ceramic designer in the ancient craft town of Seto, Japan, and mother who saw dreams beyond the setting sun over terraced fields on the coalmining island of Nagasaki, they met while they were both traveling. Their love of traveling is the passion that holds them together; a desire to touch the world. Traveling shows the value of contrast, how to see the way in which we can know ourselves by looking at what are not us. This has become the main inspiration for my art, and photography has become my method of observing and telling stories of traveling. When I am on the road, I can see myself and see where I am coming from.

In 1995, I left the small borderless island of Japan after graduating from Tokai University. While I was attending the school, the breaks and summers were spent on the road searching extensively in my homeland, for what…? I was already taking photographs during these travels as I learned about Japan, but I had never considered the possibility of studying photography or the field of art. The experience of being a student teacher in 1994 influenced the direction of my life. I felt extremely inexperience and unskilled at twenty-two, so my response was to postpone a teaching career and to go on a journey to discover the world spreading outside of Japan.

I had so much interest in the culture of Native Americans, so my first step was Seattle, the Pacific Ocean under my feet. At Seattle University I met Natapon W, an art student at the Art Institute of Seattle. Through Natapon, I became interested in the study of art. A photography student from Japan then introduced me photo as art. Through Horoomi, I began to pursue photography as an artistic direction, an interest that has taken me all over the road.

In 1996, I moved to San Diego and began studying painting at Mira Costa College. Leslie Nemour, a painter and instructor of art, helped me to create and improve my ideas of expressions. She taught me the infinite possibilities of painting. Working with Willa Burns, an instructor of photography, as well as the photographer Stephanie Sundell, I shaped a clearer vision of what I wanted my future to look like. Their supports of my work and their encouragements have made all the difference to me. My fate carried me south to Mexico where I discovered a different life and the cultures of different people, different colors of earth and different scents in the air. I spent five years creating art and living in my dream in the States, where I raced across country, coast to coast, passing so many mountains and rivers.

As I have traveled farther and deeper; the stories of different lives and cultures have gently inspired me. Photographs have become the vision of reality and paintings the image of dreams… Black and White or Colors, Timeless or Priceless…..

Longing for new stimulation and sensation, I went to Italy in the summer of 2000 an absolutely unknown continent to me. I met many fascinating people; touched and felt the value of the modern art of Milano and Torino and the classical art of Roma. While struggling to find my form of art during three years, I saw the inner-self-revolution. Art has become not only my passion but also the way to retain my life information to pass on to people. At the beginning of summer 2003 I moved to historical and surreal city Barcelona, Spain. From its warm and characteristic atmosphere and culture I deeply absorbed lively inspiration and vision. I have learned numerous of priceless lessons from the Mediterranean experience which brought me a new sense to my art and also pointed me out clearly the meaning of our lives.

In January of 2007 I came to Helsinki, Finland; followed my great interest of seeking for the farther experience and getting inspired from Nordic & Baltic culture, environment and art. Here, I continue to develop art through the living experience, to travel across the continents, leaving a path of photographs, paintings and lasting impressions.