The inner prism draws ourselves inward, bridging present and future. Whose presence do you sense within this test tube? I played the role of guardian angel. The future self does not regard darkness as error. Under pressure, coal transforms into diamond. Beyond metaphor, those who remember light are our twins. A duplicate understanding the difficulty of balancing weightlessness and density. It understands the roles of victory and defeat in competition, And how self-esteem influenced the game. When I glanced, the skull quietly whispered those words. It ceased its ceaseless chewing and shared its culinary skill, Grateful to the wise, self-improving animal. The tale is spun by the eternal lamp. Within its burning consciousness we find the deepest pain and joy. It understands the moon’s tides, the ovarian cycle, and the activity of sperm. Before finding the heavenly bride, the guardian knows our greatest love. The serpent’s body entwines with melting faces, creating our lifespan. Time remains unchanged while we age. Every molecular sphere shares me at its core, Yet I tell myself I must not dwell at the center. Why did I call myself a sphere? Was that the place to begin with? Meanwhile, the jewels we unearthed are the same point nourishing all things on Earth.
Aurora 41.0×31.8cm Sumi-ink, natural pigments and glue on Washi paper 2018 Sphenoid Bone 18.0×18.0cm Sumi-ink on Washi pape 2019 Blue Ouroboros 27.3×19.0cm Sumi-ink, natural pigments and glue on Washi paper 2022 Bodyscape 1045.5×38.0cm Sumi-ink and my body on Washi paper 2026
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ARTWORK IN THIS POST IS A COPYRIGHT OF MICHIYO KAMEI. THIS AN AUTHORIZED PUBLICATION WITH PERMISSION AND EXPRESSED CONSENT.
In her black ink paintings, Michiyo Kamei explores the concepts of impermanence, transformation, and the enduring nature of existence through a form she calls the bodymandala.
Mitchell Pluto: At what point did you realize you were an artist?
Michiyo Kamei: I originally studied anatomy at medical school and started out as a medical illustrator. It was only after I stopped working as an illustrator and began creating paintings that I realized I was an artist. Anatomical illustrations are created at the request of the medical field to follow the authors’ papers and wishes, so the illustrator cannot draw them freely. Paintings are free to be drawn by the creator, so the artist can freely incorporate their own ideas. This difference is significant to me.
Mitchell Pluto: How would you describe your art, given that it blends many traditional and modern genres?
Michiyo Kamei: When I was drawing anatomical illustrations, I studied the theory of modern anatomy and created my diagrams. After I quit this job and started painting, I began exhibiting at a gallery that collected ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period in Japan. Seeing many hand-painted ukiyo-e at the gallery, I rediscovered the beauty of traditional Japanese styles. When drawing the hands and feet in my work, I sketch my own body in front of a mirror, then deform it in the ukiyo-e style. In this way, I am influenced by both modern anatomical diagrams and ukiyo-e from the Edo period, which have a uniquely Japanese style.
Mitchell Pluto: When creating your artwork, what specific medium or materials do you prefer to work with?
Michiyo Kamei: I like oriental materials. Rather than just adding paint to the paper, I like to let the ink soak into the paper, letting it bleed and see how it moves within the paper fibers. Sometimes I don’t just create a picture, I let the ink create a picture on its own.
Mitchell Pluto: Could you describe and clarify what a bodymandala is?
Michiyo Kamei: Anatomical illustrations are pictures of the world of death drawn from corpses. Since I began painting, I have wanted to depict the world of life, so I have incorporated energetic shunga. Death and life are repeated in my paintings, and I hope to approach the theme of “eternity.” Mandalas represent the universe in Buddhist worldview, but I represent the universe through the body, and am exploring a new mandala form called the “bodymandala.”
Mitchell Pluto: What visual artists have influenced your work and given you inspiration?
Michiyo Kamei: I’ve been interested in the body since I was a child. It feels as though I am contained within this body, but at the same time it is also part of the natural world, the world outside of me. Which one does it belong to? And when I realized that I would die along with this body, I was terrified. Francis Bacon is an artist I admire for his expression of the body and anxiety. I’ve admired him ever since I discovered him in an illustrated catalogue as a teenager. Another artist is H.R. Giger. I think his organic expression in black and white is so beautiful.
Mitchell Pluto: Could you please tell me the central idea behind your current show?
Michiyo Kamei: I’m currently incorporating “jintaku” a technique in which ink is applied to my body and then transferred onto Japanese washi paper. Rather than painting with a paintbrush, jintaku involves pressing my body against the paper, resulting in completely uncontrollable and unexpected ink patterns. While observing the stains on my skin, I paint the “inside and outside” of the body in the blank spaces. It is meaningful to me to compose my paintings using three elements: the inside (anatomical illustrations) and outside (limbs, plants, natural world and the universe), and my living skin, which lies at the boundary between them. I call this “bodyscape,” and I hope to expand the image in my paintings from a small image of the body to a larger world. What kind of world can unfold from the body? And can humans have the imagination to do so?
Mitchell Pluto: What are your thoughts about the universe in relation to the philosophy of your art?
Michiyo Kamei: I believe that the universe in which we live has no beginning or end, but is a whole that is constantly transforming. There are times when I feel that even life and the body are merely a fleeting moment. Currently, I assume that the beginning of everything is the “zero point” of the universe, and my theme is the transformation and chaos of the body (form) that begins from there. In my paintings, I want to rewind time and explore the primordial form of life. I find a unique beauty in the cruelty and sacredness of the wild nature of evolution, which repeats selection and mating.
Mitchell Pluto: Who are your favorite writers for inspiration, and how do they influence your art and perspective?
Michiyo Kamei: I like Jorge Luis Borges, especially “The Library of Babel.” When I read this novel, I feel like an infinite universe is expanding in my head. I think his universe can only be expressed in novels (words), and can never be depicted. I would like to reach such a world someday, but life is short, and I feel that once is not enough for me.
“The original form of the universe: the wildness of the zero point” Michiyo Kamei exhibition at the Y art gallery in Osaka, Japan 2025
Mitchell Pluto 