Hanae Utamura

Hanae Utamura is a Japanese interdisciplinary artist. Utamura works in video, performance, new media installation, and sculpture. She connects human beings and earth, using the body as a conduit. The negotiation between nature and civilization, and how the will of life manifests itself in its processes has been the central focus of her practice. She reflects on our relationship to nature, focusing on how we imagine, experience, and affect the natural world through scientific development and historical narration.

She received her MFA at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London and BFA at Goldsmiths, University of London. Utamura has received support through numerous international residencies and fellowships including Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, Germany), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, Germany), PACT Zollverein (Essen, Germany), Art Omi (Hudson, U.S.), Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, U.S.), Aomori Contemporary Art Center (Aomori, Japan), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Changdong Art Studio (Seoul, S.Korea), Seoul Art Space_GEUMCHEON (Seoul, S.Korea), Florence Trust (London, U.K.) and more. She has been awarded the Shiseido Art Egg Award, Axis/Florence Trust Award, UNESCO-Aschberg Bursary Award, NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, Bunkacho Grant by the Japanese Ministry of Culture, the Pola Art Foundation, Nomura Art Foundation, i-style Art and Sports Foundation, and has been exhibited extensively in Asia, Europe, and the United States. She was a visiting scholar at New York University in 2019, supported by the Japanese Ministry of Culture, as part of the Japan – United States Friendship Exchange Program in the Arts.