Women on Fire

Kyoto, January 14, 2025― Sokyo (Furumonzen) is pleased to present the group exhibition ‘Women on Fire’. From internationally recognized figures to those who have been historically undervalued and overlooked, this exhibition will feature women artists such as Annette Messager, Kimiyo Mishima, Kristen Morgin, Myriam Mechita, Pae White, Sylvie Auvray, Toko Shinoda, and Tsumori Aico (Alphabetical order), who have independently established themselves through expanding their art practices. Coming from diverse backgrounds and facing various social constraints, these artists have consistently infused their work with energy, offering innovative forms of expression and unique perspectives, while engaging critically with society.

Japanese women artists, in particular, have faced considerable challenges in gaining international recognition. This is largely due to the historical struggles of gender equality in Japanese society, which, in comparison to other developed nations, made it especially difficult for women to succeed on the global stage.

Born in 1913 in old Manchuria (present day China), Toko Shinoda was a calligrapher who lived her entire life as a single woman in an era that held the conservative belief that 'girls cannot be independent.' At the age of five, she began learning calligraphy from her father, and by 23, she had established herself as an independent calligrapher. However, her unconventional approaches were not embraced by the calligraphy world at the time. In 1956, following World War II, she moved to the United States alone, where she witnessed the rise of Abstract Expressionism. Inspired by this movement, she moved from traditional calligraphy towards a newly developed form of 'abstract ink painting' (sumi ink abstraction). Her ink works, expressive of her inner emotions, are characterized by a restrained color palette and bold, fluid lines. These evocative pieces continue to captivate and inspire audiences to this day.

Born in 1932 in Jūsō (Osaka), Kimiyo Mishima spent her childhood not playing with dolls and stuffed animals, but instead through observing spiders, silkworms and lizard through a microscope. Although she dreamed of becoming a doctor, her life took a different path when she told her mother, “People can be made in a flask,” which led to an arranged marriage with a man chosen by her mother. Reluctant to be controlled by others, Mishima started apprenticing under, Shigemi Mishima, who then become her husband, and began experimenting with collage artworks. Many of the materials she used were discarded items by her husband—newspapers, magazines, and horse-racing tickets. In the late 1960s, Mishima shifted from collage to ceramics, using the medium to express her growing concerns about the overwhelming excess of waste and the inundation of information in modern society. After her husband’s death in 1985, she was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship, a grant she had once given up on, and spent a year in New York from 1986 to 1987. During this time, she interacted with Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. However, Mishima’s practice is independent of any group or movement, which reflects her strong commitment to pursuing her own individual artistic expressions. Using image transfers on ceramics created by silk-screen printing, Mishima’s creations are often indistinguishable from actual trash. Wrapped in Mishima's characteristic humor, they nonetheless reflect her sharp, insightful perspective on the world, capturing the essence of the times she observed.

Based in Shigaraki, one of Japan’s six ancient kilns, Aico Tsumori creates ceramics that bring to life familiar animals and people around her. While many of her works are inspired by myths and fairy tales, they diverge from typical happy endings to evoking images of strong, independent girls and women. Beneath their charming, approachable expressions lies an air of mystery—something elusive and almost mystical. In recent years, Tsumori has also created ceramics inspired by drawings her daughter had made, earning her widespread popularity. 

Kristen Morgin is an artist based in Los Angeles. Using raw clay, she creates objects and icons that evoke personal and collective memories, such as the beloved picture books familiar to American children, as well as figures like Donald Duck, Yoda, and Brad Pitt. By employing materials like paint, ink, graphite, and markers, she crafts surfaces that appear weathered, worn, and distressed, thereby triggering nostalgia in the viewer. In this exhibition, Be A Good Little Pirate (Cassette) (2017), a cassette tape featuring a music mix made by an old partner, along with two pieces from Untitled (Playing Cards) (2006), including a Queen card, and Salt Mary (2001) will be exhibited. 

Sylvie Auvray began her career as a painter and later expanded her artistic practice to include fashion design, sculpture, and ceramics. In her first solo exhibition in Japan, Beast and Broom (2021) at Sokyo (Kyoto), Auvray showcased works centered around brooms—an ongoing motif in her practice—as well as drawings. The exhibited artworks were a combination of brooms with materials such as found tree branches and ceramics parts integrated. The exhibition also drew inspiration from figures like picture story show Pinocchio and Commedia dell’Arte characters, showcasing works that are both intellectually engaging and filled with Auvray’s unique humor. On display in this exhibition will be Blue Apron Broom (2021), a broom piece that incorporates an antique gingham-check apron, which references the time when women were all full-time housewives and took responsible for household chores.

Myriam Mechita is a sculptor renowned for her installations and enigmatic forms. Her menagerie of animals—dogs, stags, roe deer, serows, and rabbits—are intentionally abstracted and devoid of realistic details, which in three-dimensional forms, they lose their bodily openings. Without ears, eyes, or mouths, these creatures retain a primitive, unrefined essence. In this exhibition, three ceramic works will be on display: the eyeless birds firebirds (2018), before and after (2018), and potato head(2018).

Pae White is a multimedia artist renowned for creating a diverse range of captivating works by blending elements of art, design, craft, and architecture. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Alexander Calder and West Coast nun Sister Corita, White transforms everyday materials into ephemeral objects and immersive installations. In this exhibition, Companion (2015), a porcelain popcorn adorned with gold glaze will be on exhibit. By inviting viewers to look more closely at familiar encounters and ordinary objects, White breathes new life into the mundane. Her thought-provoking works encourage us to question the deeper meanings behind the shapes and functions of the things we often take for granted.

Unyielding to authority, Annette Messager uses her work to explore the yearning for cultural diversity and questions the biased views of women. Since 1970, she has employed everyday materials such as fabric, embroidery, thread, and knitting in her creative practice. In this exhibition, La Lune-crayon (Pencil Moon) (2015), a piece in which countless colored pencils protrude from the fingertips of black fabric gloves, will be on display. While the moon evokes a mystical and poetic imagery, the work simultaneously brings into relief the cruelty and the contradictory complexity of human nature, viewed from an everyday perspective.

Additionally, this exhibition supports the activities of EJAAD, a non-profit organization that advocates for the education and employment opportunities of young women in Afghanistan. The organization aims to preserve Afghanistan's traditional crafts, such as embroidery, while providing a platform for young women to flourish and actively contribute to society.

Myriam Mechita 
Born in 1974 in Strasbourg, France. In 1997 she obtained the National Diploma of Plastic Expression - School of Decorative Arts (Strasbourg, France) and also has a background in Ethnology. She is currently active in Berlin, where she also teaches practical arts education. Major solo shows include 'Je cherche les diamants dans la boue' le Transpalette - Centre d'art, 2019 (Bourges, France); 'Darkness with blue sky' Greenlease Gallery, 2018 (MO, USA); 'Roses don't have heart, but my eyes will find yours' Greenaway Art Gallery, 2017 (Adelaide, Australia). Major group shows include 'Bun' Sokyo, 2019 (Kyoto, Japan); 'Couleurs' Sèvres Museum of Ceramics, 2018 (Sèvres, France); 'HERstory - Des Archives Féministes' Maisons des Art, 2017 (Malakoff, France); 'Voyage de Sublime' ArtNomad, Palais de Tokyo, ENSAM Limoges, MAC Marseille, Venice Biennale, 2015. Artist residencies include the 2018 BBK Ceramic Residency (Berlin, Germany); 2017 Nuit des idées, Embassy of France (CA, USA); 2015 Triangle Association Residence (Lisbon, Portugal). Collections include The Fondation Salomon Collection (Annecy, France); The Fondation Bayeler (Strasbourg, France and Stuttgart, Germany); Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Strasbourg, France); National Ceramics Museum of Sèvres (Paris, France). Public collections include The Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse (Toulouse, France); The Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia).


Annette Messager
Born in 1943 in Berg-sur-Mer, France. While attending the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, she won a photography contest in 1965, which led her to visit Southern Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Israel, the United States, and other regions. She is currently based in Malakoff, France. Major solo shows include 'Desire Disorder' Power Station of Art, 2024 (Shanghai, China); 'Disordered Desires' ARos, 2023 (Aarhus, Denmark); 'Comme Si' The Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art, 2022 (Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France). Major group shows include 'Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother' Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2024 (NYC, USA); 'Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art' Museum of Arts and Design, 2022 (NYC, USA); 'The House Of Dust: Women's Work' MAMC Saint-Étienne, 2022 (Saint-Étienne, France); 'Arcimboldo Face to Face' Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2021 (Metz, France). In 2005, she won the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale, and in 2016, she received the 28th Praemium Imperiale Award (Sculpture). Her works are part of several major collections, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France), the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (NYC, USA), and the Le Locle Museum (Le Locle, Switzerland).


Kimiyo Mishima
Born in Osaka in Japan in 1932, passed away at the age of 91 in 2024. Worked both in Juso (Osaka) and Toki (Gifu). She exhibited her paintings at Dokuritsu Exhibition from 1954. She received the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and stayed in New York, from 1986 to 1987. Recent solo shows includes ‘Kimiyo Mishima: Memories for the Future’ Nerima Art Museum, 2024 (Tokyo, Japan); ‘Mishima Kimiyo : Solo Exhibition’ Sokyo, Sokyo Annex, 2023 (Kyoto, Japan);  ‘MISHIMA KIMIYO: Play Watch Create’ Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, 2023 (Gifu, Japan); ‘Kimiyo Mishima Solo Exhibition 1950s-2021’ SOKYO ATSUMI (Tokyo, Japan); Solo Exhibition, Sokyo Annex, 2021 (Kyoto, Japan); Solo Exhibition, SOKYO LISBON, 2020 (Lisbon, Portugal); ‘Kimiyo Mishima’ Sokyo, 2017 (Kyoto, Japan). Recent group shows includes ‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ Queensland Art Gallery, 2022 (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) ; ‘The Flames. The Age of Ceramics’ City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, 2021 (Paris, France) ; ‘Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging - 16 Women Artists from around the World’ Mori Art Museum, 2021 (Tokyo, Japan); ‘The 4th Collection Gallery Exhibition: Kimiyo Mishima’ The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 2020 (Kyoto, Japan). Permanent collections include: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan); Pola Museum of Art (Kanagawa, Japan); The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan); Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art (Kyoto, Japan); Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art (Hyogo, Japan); The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park (Shiga, Japan); Museum of modern Cermic Art (Gifu, Japan); National Crafts Museum (Ishikawa, Japan); Benesse Art Site Naoshima (Kagawa, Japan); International Museum of Ceramics (Faenza, Italy); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA, USA); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA, USA); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (IL, USA); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA, USA); The British Museum (London, UK); M+ (Hong Kong); Musée d'art modern (Paris, France); The Centre Pompidou (Paris, France); The Queensland Art Gallery (Queensland, Australia) and more. 


Toko Shinoda
Born in 1913 in Dalian, China, passed away in 2021 at the age of 108. From a young age, she developed a deep interest in calligraphy and studied under local calligraphy masters while also cultivating a strong passion for traditional Japanese calligraphy. Starting in the 1940s, she pursued abstract calligraphy as a form of contemporary art, going beyond the traditional boundaries of calligraphy and establishing a sensuous expression through abstract techniques. Recent solo shows include 'Toko's Calligraphy: A Liberating Flow' Gifu Collection of Modern Arts, 2025 (Gifu, Japan); Solo Show, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2024 (Tokyo, Japan); 'Listening to Toko: Resonance/ Poems of Toko: Lyrical' Gifu Collection of Modern Arts, 2014 (Gifu, Japan); 'The Poetry of Nature and Calligraphy' Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2010 (Tokyo, Japan). Her works are currently held in numerous collections both in Japan and abroad, including the Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, Netherlands), the Guggenheim Museum (NYC, USA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC, USA), the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo), the National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), and the Gifu Contemporary Art Museum (Gifu), among others. Additionally, her works are housed in over twenty public institutions, including the Library of Congress (Washington D.C., USA), the Kyoto State Guest House, and the Imperial Palace (Kyoto, Japan) dining room.


Pae White
Born in 1963 in Pasadena, California, USA. She is currently based in Los Angeles, California. Her education background includes Scripps College (CA, USA), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (ME, USA), and the Art Center College of Design (CA, USA). Solo shows include 'manamalia' Galería Elvira González, 2024 (Madrid, Spain); 'Beta Space: Pae White' San Jose Museum of Art, 2019 (CA, USA); 'Spacemanship' Saarland Museum, 2017 (Saarland, Germany); 'Restless Rainbow' Art Institute of Chicago, 2011 (IL, USA). Groups shows include 'Prospect' San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art - La Jolla, 2024, (CA, USA); 'Ecstatic' Hammer Museum, 2023 (CA, USA); 'Global Groove' Folkwang Mu, 2017seum, 2021(Essen, Germany); 'The Return of Guests: Selections from the PSA Collection' Power Station of Art, 2019 (Shanghai, China); 'NVG Triennale' National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia). Her works are included in major collections such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (NYC, USA), Tate Modern (London, UK), the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), and the San Diego Museum of Art (CA, USA), among many others.


Kristen Morgin
Born in 1968 in Brunswick, Georgia, USA. She is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She earned her BFA from California State University (CA, USA) in 1993, and a MFA from Alfred University, School of Ceramics (NYC, USA) in 1997. Major solo shows include 'K.Morgin : 21 Century Works 2001- 2019' SOKYO ATSUMI, 2022 (Tokyo), and at Sokyo, Sokyo Annex (Kyoto, Japan) in the same year; 'Jennifer Aniston’s Used Book Sale' Felix Art Fair, 2019 (CA, USA); 'There’s No Need to Fear' Mark Selwyn Fine Art, 2017 (CA, USA); 'My Best to You, Little Girl – Boy' Anthony Meyer Fine Art, 2016 (CA, USA); 'SO IT GOES' A-B Projects, Scripps College, 2016 (CA, USA). Group shows include 'A Dead Reckoning: Navigating Contemporary Ceramics' Pensacola Museum of Art, 2021 (FL, USA); 'Total Collapse: Clay in the Contemporary Past' Arizona State University Art Museum, 2020 (AZ, USA); 'Interstitial' Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2020 (CA, USA); 'Visions and Revisions: Renwick Invitational 2016' Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2016 (Washington D.C., USA); 'Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century' New Museum, 2007 (NYC, USA); 'Thing: New Sculpture from Los Angeles' Hammer Museum, 2005 (CA, USA). Major collections include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA, USA), Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C., USA), Hammer Museum (CA, USA), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA, USA).


Sylvie Auvray
Born in 1974 in Paris, France. Currently working and living in Paris. Graduated from the Fine Art School of Montpellier, France in 1993 and received her B.A. degree in painting from City & Guilds of London Art School (London, UK) in 1996. Major solo exhibitions include ‘Maguerites’ SOKYO ATSUMI, 2022 (Tokyo, Japan); ‘Beasts and Brooms’ Sokyo, 2021 (Kyoto, Japan); ‘Aux foyers’ Moly Sabata, Fondation Albert Gleizes, 2020 (Sablons, France); ‘Les Cambuses’ Galerie Laurent Godin, 2019(Paris); ‘Johnʼs feet’ Chamberlain building, Chinati Foundation, 2016 (TX, USA); ‘Rings’ Galerie Francesca Pia, 2015 (Zürich, Switzerland). Major group exhibitions include 'Sylvie & Umetsu. La maison hantée?' Sokyo, 2024 (Kyoto, Japan); ‘Le Forum: Enamel and Body/ Ceramics’ Ginza Maison Hermès, 2023 (Tokyo, Japan); ‘All of Them Witches’ Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, 2020 (CA, USA); ‘La Musée’ commissaire Azad Asifovich, Galerie italienne, 2019 (Paris, France); ‘Citoyennes paradoxales’ FRAC Champagne-Ardenne collection, Palais du Tau, 2018 (Reims, France); ‘Fire and Clay’, Galerie Gagosian, 2018(Geneva, Switzerland); ‘Medusa’ Musée dʼArt Moderne de Paris, 2017 (Paris); ‘Nouveau Festival’ Xavier Douroux, Peinture Parlée, Centre Pompidou , 2009 (Paris, France). Major collections include Musée dʼArt Moderne de Paris (Paris, France); Collection du Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris, France); FRAC Nouvelle Aquitaine MÉCA, (Bordeaux, France); Consortium Museum (Dijon, France); FRAC Normandie Caen (Caen, France).

Aico Tsumori

Born in 1979 in Shiga, Japan. She graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 2002. Her ceramic works, characterized by earthy tones and painted with underglaze colors on iron-rich clay, convey a rustic and simple charm. Recent solo shows include '-Metaphor for Catharsis-' Gallery Utsuwakan, 2024 (Kyoto, Japan); 'Galaxyー☆Happy' QUIET GALLERY, 2023 (Hong Kong); 'KiraKira no Anoko' Savoir Vivre, 2022 (Tokyo, Japan). Recent group shows include 'The Art Corridor 2024 feat. Kila Cheung & Aico Tsumori( Porsche New Taipei, 2024 (Taipei, Taiwan); 'The Progress of Ceramics' Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum, 2023 (Tokyo, Japan); '-The Sparkle Entrusted to Clay- Children X Artists: The Cutting Edge of Ceramics' The Shigaraki Cultural Ceramic Park (Shiga, Japan). Awards include Selected for the Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition (2009); Encouragement Award at the Chosan Ceramic Biennale (2007); Bronze Award at the Toki City Oribe no Kokoro Ceramic Exhibition (2006); selected for the Asahi Ceramics Exhibition (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006); New Female Artists Ceramics Exhibition Award (2003).