nca | nichido contemporary art

Venue: nca | nichido contemporary art
Date: 7.26 (Sat.) – 9.13 (Sat.) 2025 / *Gallery hours: Tue. – Sat. 11:00 – 19:00 (Closed on Mon., Sun., and National Holidays)
Opening reception: 7.26 (Sat.) 17:00 ～ 19:00
Artists: Busui Ajaw / Ami Inoue / Crystal Lupa / Wangechi Mutu / Mika Shimauchi

nca | nichido contemporary art is pleased to present the group show Future Echoes featuring the work of 5 female artists, namely Busui Ajaw, Ami Inoue, Crystal Lupa, Wangechi Mutu and Mika Shimauchi.
The exhibition explores a variety of themes spanning identity, diaspora, environment, and human-nature relations, from a female perspective shaped by the daily lives of these artists.
Artists who have been witnessing the rapid globalization of the past few years which has brought about various ills –for instance, environmental disasters, climate change, struggles over labor conditions, human rights violations and political tensions – that have been changing the world as we know it. Creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue and connection, through investigation they bring themselves to question their own environment and background, gaining new perspectives each time.
Through painting and sculpture, Busui Ajaw, who, as a child, fled to Thailand from Myanmar in order to escape the country’s political unrest at the time, gives voice to what it means to live in today’s society whilst still embodying traditions and beliefs from the past, especially drawing on her own experience being a member of the Ahka people. Ajaw’s practice stretches far beyond the mere passing down of traditions, as, through her work, she touches upon issues still relevant in contemporary societies, such as poverty for instance, and patriarchy which she is personally fighting both as a woman and a mother.
From a mountain village in Kyoto where she lives, Ami Inoue works across a variety of media combining installation, video and photography while engaging in beekeeping and hunting. Through her work, Inoue is looking for ways in which humans and nature can coexist today, exploring the relation between humans and other living beings; and she does so by learning about the ecosystem and confronting nature through her practice. The work on view consists of Inoue’s newest video installation which records the necessary growth stages of her puppies in order for them to become fully grown hunting dogs. And with time, changes happen, not only from a biological point of view, as the relation between humans and animals evolves. By observing the development of her dogs, Inoue smartly addresses nature’s unpredictability creating a new vision.
Born in the U.S., and currently based in Taiwan, Crystal Lupa transforms life experiences in reality or dreams into scenes.
Lupa’s visual language evokes fantasy literature and Eastern mysticism, and, overflowing with a primitive yet lyrical texture, it brings to the fore the psychological state of her representations. By giving visibility to the inner dimension, she explores the self, complex, shadow, and the collective unconscious, some sort of shared experience which has been unifying humanity throughout time, knowing no cultural borders.
Spanning across different media which combine performance, sculpture, installation, and collage, the work by Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu is deeply connected to womanhood. Female pseudo-cyborgs, bizarre beings that are part human, part plant, fantastical hybrid creatures - they all bear testament to the existence of a feminine energy as a universal aspect of humanity, representing women’s body as a vessel of strength simultaneously eliciting feelings of desire and disgust, intertwined with the cultural values of today’s societies.
Life-altering experiences, such as the COVID pandemic, and the 2016’s earthquake, brought Shimauchi to develop an interest in local festivals and the religious, folkloristic beliefs deeply and specifically rooted in a given geographic area, compelling her to conduct extensive fieldwork. Shimauchi’s interdisciplinary practice, spanning installation, sculpture and painting, seeks new answers to the problems we are facing today by looking at the old stories and myths of deities, passed down for generations, such as the existence of visiting gods called marebito or raihosin who would visit the human-world from another dimension, and that show us a glimpse of how people in the past overcame difficulties and carried on living in local communities.
While they do not share the same culture or background, the artists on view, each from their own personal stance, have been rising to the challenges of our times and, holding their ground, have been paving the way for the rest of us as they continue to walk their own path.

Busui Ajaw | b.1986, Myanmar. Currently based in Chiang Rai.
Main solo exhibitions include “Amamata” nca | nichido contemporary art / Tokyo (2023), “Mother of the World” BANK- MABSOCIETY / Shanghai (2022). Main group exhibitions include “13th Berlin Biennale13 - passing the fugitive on” Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße / Berlin (2025), “The Ancestors – curated by Kohkae Collective” MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum / Chiangmai (2024), “AWT FOCUS/ Earth, Wind, and Fire: VISIONS OF THE FUTURE FROM ASIA – curated by Mami Kataoka” The Okura Tokyo / Tokyo (2024), “Bangkok Art Biennale – Nurture Gaja-“ BACC / Bangkok (2024), “Thailand Biennale – Chiang Rai” / Chiang Rai (2023), “Every step in the right direction, Singapore Biennale” / Singapore (2019), and others.

Ami Inoue | b. 1991, Miyagi. 2016 Master’s Program of Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Currently based in Kyoto.
Inoue lives in the countryside where she works on her artistic practice while carrying out her activity as a beekeeper and a hunter. Constantly dealing with the animal world throughout her daily life – whether in the form of her hunting dogs or bees – through her artistic practice, which combines installation, photography and video, Inoue explores the relation between that and us, looking at the distance that simultaneously connects and separates these two worlds from an ethnographic perspective. Inoue’s beekeeping business takes the name of “The Honey Bees House”, while the artist named her shared studio “Beehive“. Inoue is a part-time lecturer at Kyoto University of the Arts.
Main solo exhibitions include “The Garden” Kyoto Art Center / Kyoto (2023), “The piercing eyes” Amado Art Space / Seoul (2019), and others. Main group exhibitions include “14th Yeosu International Art Festival / Yeosu (2024), ”21st Biennale of Sydney” Cockatoo Island / Australia (2018), “Nice to meet you ARTECHNIK” sendai mediatheque / Sendai (2017) and others.

Crystal Lupa | b. 1989, California. Major in fashion design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Lupa is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Taipei, working across painting, illustration, sculpture, fashion design, and music composition.
Main solo exhibitions include “PHOSPHENE REVERIE” GLASS RICE / San Francisco (2025), “TEMPORAL DIALOGUE” GALERIE OVO / Taipei (2025), “EXOTICA” Asia Art Center / Taipei (2024), and others. Main group exhibitions include “THE RIVER NEVER RUN DRY” GLASS RICE / San Francisco (2025) / “Soft Glistening Lights -Crystal Lupa & Monika Marchewka” HIRO ART SPACE / Taipei (2024), “The Grand Exhibition of New Taipei City Artists” YINGGE CERAMICS MUSEUM / New Taipei City (2024), “Transgression thought the Volatile World” Asia Art Center / Taipei (2021), and others.

Wangechi Mutu | b. 1972, Nairobi, Kenya. Currently works between New York, and Nairobi.
2000 FA in sculpture from Yale University / 1996 BFA from Cooper Union / 1991 UWC Atlantic College (Wales)
Mutu's artworks have been exhibited extensively in major art venues around the world.
Main solo shows include “Black Soil Poems” Galleria Borghese / Rome (2025), “Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined” (touring exhibition) New Museum / New York (2023), New Orleans Museum of Art / New Orleans (2024), “Wangechi Mutu” Storm King Art Center / New York (2022), “Wangechi Mutu: I Am Speaking, Are You Listening?” Legion of Honor / San Francisco (2021), “A Promise to Communicate” Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston (2018), “Wangechi Mutu: The End of eating Everything” Blanton Museum of Art / Austin (2018) and others.

Mika Shimauchi | b. 1987, Kumamoto. Currently based in Kumamoto.
2013 Art Degree in Sculpture at Sojo University Graduate School of Art.
Main solo exhibitions include ”Remote Universe” Marueido Japan / Tokyo (2024), “Drawing about fire / Mika Shimauchi” Under Construction Center / Fukuoka (2022), “Quivering flames, ardent earth.” Aomori Contemporary Art Centre Gallery A / Aomori (2021), “Seeds in Autumn 2020: Shimauchi Mika Solo Exhibition “On being independent”” Exhibition Gallery C, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum / Fukuoka (2020). Main group exhibitions include “VOCA 2024” The Ueno Royal Museum / Tokyo (2024), “KAWAKYU ART Exhibition 2022 “Real-Life Dream” Kawakyu Museum / Wakayama (2022), “Miyawaka Triennale TRAiART” MEDIA BASE / Fukuoka (2021), “TOKAS Creator-in-Residence 2020 Exhibition “Daisy Chain”” Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo / Tokyo (2020), among others.
In addition, Shimauchi has joined several artist-in-residence programs including the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre / Aomori (2021), the Local Creator Residence Program Tokyo, Tokyo Arts and Space / Tokyo (2019), and the Vermont Studio Center / Vermont (2018).