Guest Artist: Motomitsu Fujiwara, Tokyo University of the Arts
Motomitsu Fujiwara, Diente de león
My name is Motomitsu Fujiwara, and I am a second-year student at Tokyo University of the Arts, specializing in oil painting.
I began painting during high school, and the reason I continue to create art is simple: I realized that a true work of art does not require language. Words may follow later, but the most profound expressions transcend linguistic boundaries. Because I understand the weight of words, I wish to communicate without them.
I have received several awards, including the Prime Minister’s Award and a prize from the globally renowned artist Aoki Noe.
“Diente de león”
This is my first-ever painting, and it remains one of my favorites. I created it with a light heart, but it has become very dear to me. As a child, I attended a Christian school, where we prayed every morning to the Virgin Mary. That experience shaped who I am today. Closing my eyes in prayer—wishing for the well-being of everything I saw that day, hoping for happiness tomorrow—I came to believe that kindness alone can sustain life.
The dandelion’s symbolic meaning is “divine trust.” For me, painting feels like receiving divine messages, and this piece embodies that belief.
“Uluru and the Mammoth”
Motomitsu Fujiwara, Uluru and the Mammoth
This painting was inspired by the return of Uluru (Ayers Rock) from the tourism board to the Indigenous Anangu people of Australia. One of my guiding principles in art is to explore primal expression—beyond language, at the core of human spirituality. I believe such expression holds significant value in contemporary society.
Uluru has vastly different meanings for the Indigenous people and tourists. To the Anangu, it is sacred; to outsiders, it was merely a sightseeing destination. This disconnect led to cultural tragedy. My message is simple: faith is profoundly important.
The mammoth, an extinct creature, never lived in the Southern Hemisphere, yet in art, it can exist anywhere. That is the power of faith.