Biography of Yorigami Munemi

Born: 1944, Kyoto, Japan
Career Highlights:

1969–72 Studied under the late Kazuo Yagi
1980 Became a member of Sodeisha (Sodeisha dissolved in 1999)
1986–89 Yagi Kazuo Award for Contemporary Ceramics (Awarded the Excellence Prize in 1987)
1991 Faenza International Ceramic Competition – Gold Prize
1992 Grand Prix at the International Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics
1999 Bronze Prize at the 1999 International Ceramics Exhibition Mino
2000 Featured in NHK BS2 program Yakimono Tanbō – Munemi Yogami: Breathing Life into Fragments
2001 Kyoto Crafts 1945–2000 Exhibition
2007 Invited to The Chongju International Craft Biennale
2009 Participated in the 2009 International Competition (South Korea)
2016–19 Visiting Professor at Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China
2019 To Ideal Land Ceramics – Grand Vessels in the Way of Dao (Tsinghua University, China)
2021 A Chronicle of Modern Crafts – From the Collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
2023 Served as a judge for Chain Blanc (Bai, China)
2023 Appointed Honorary Professor at China Academy of Art (Hangzhou)
2023–24 Visiting Professor at Hubei Institute of Fine Arts
2024 Residency in Jingdezhen, China

Current Positions:
Honorary Professor, China Academy of Art
Visiting Professor, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts

Yorigami Munemi – Message

The object work titled “Connect” was inspired by a late friend who had collected old nails from abandoned traditional wooden boats on Lake Biwa. I was given some of these nails and made them the thematic core of this piece.
While “Connect” suggests a physical joining, I also see it as a metaphor for linking people, time, techniques, and sentiments.

The form of the flower vessel was inspired by the shape of a certain frozen confection, which I found visually intriguing.