Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Detail Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls, 2021

Handmade paper: mulberry and yerba buena, stitching, paper lithograph 20x20x3 inches

Flower depicting the bombing of Hiroshima which killed all of my Japanese relatives.

Detail Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls, 2021

Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls, 2021

Installation. Handmade Paper: mulberry and yerba buena, paper lithograph 15x9x9 feet

This installation consists of 75 flowers made of paper created out of mulberry and yerba buena. It addresses the forced migration that my Japanese family experienced in Latin America during WWII. Each petal of each flower shows fragments of my family's memories printed using paper lithograph method and is stitched with sashiko the traditional Japanese mending of torn cloth.

Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls, 2021

Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Detail, Our Eyes in a Fragmented World, 2025

Handmade mulberry paper, mulberry lacing, flax and paper lithograph 12x18x20 inches

Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Detail, Our Eyes in a Fragmented World, 2025

Lydia Nakashima Degarrod

Our Eyes in a Fragmented World, 2025

Installation. Handmade paper, mulberry and flax; bark lacing, paper lithograph 9x9x9 feet

This installation is inspired by the physical devastation created during the Anthropocene, the geological era, in which humans have been the main actors in causing the fragile state of our planet. I portray this fragility through a multitude of fiber spheres representing different aspects of our eroded world, and with the images of eyes of both human and animals as witnesses of our condition. As a visual artist, I believe in the power of the materials to be storytellers, so each use of fiber and color is reminding us about our past and traditions. I use flax, the oldest known fiber used by humans to recall our long presence, and mulberry, to honor my Japanese ancestors. By using these fibers, I aim at reminding us of our common ancestry, our mutual dependency on the flora and fauna, and to symbolically heal these fragmentations. I use the color blue to express hope.