I will hold a solo exhibition in Kanazawa starting Sunday, November 23. The venue is Gen-chan House, a community space in Ishibiki where I once created a salt installation of magnolia flowers in 2018.
This new exhibition commemorates the 9th anniversary of Gen-chan House.
I lost my wife to breast cancer. Through that experience, I came to realize how essential it is to have a place where patients and their families can feel supported and cared for. This exhibition was born from my wish for more people to know about Gen-chan House and to visit this warm and compassionate place.
On the opening day, I’ll also host a small workshop where participants can make accessories and an artist talk. If you are nearby, please come by and spend some quiet time with us.
Colors of Memory – Traces Through Time
Dates: November 23 (Sun) – December 14 (Sun), 2025
Hours: 11:00 – 17:00 (open daily)
Venue: Gallery Caring (Genchan House 2F)
Koshiya Medical Care Building, 4-4-10 Ishibiki, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
In 2018, I created a salt drawing of a purple magnolia in this very place. It was a work in which I entrusted my memories of my wife, who passed away from breast cancer, to a flower of remembrance.
Since then, the years have passed. This autumn marks the ninth anniversary of Genchan House, and also nine years since I said farewell to her. My salt installations are born and, at the end of the exhibition, are gently taken apart together with visitors, and the salt is returned to the sea. I feel that this cycle of arising and returning quietly echoes the paths we walk in life, and the ways in which our memories shift and change.
Through accompanying my wife’s treatment, I came to understand how deeply it can support the heart to have a place where patients and their families can feel safe enough to speak openly. Because of those experiences, I now feel more than ever the importance of the role that Genchan House has come to play.
This exhibition centers on a salt installation that traces the flow of time together with the journey of Genchan House, and also includes new works on paper and video documentation of a digital drawing, in which lines of light slowly spread and quietly fade away.
On the opening day, we will also hold the Fragments of Memory Project,, born from the collapse of a work in Noto. In this workshop, participants encase salt from the installation that fell during the Noto Peninsula earthquake at the Oku-Noto Triennale in clear resin, creating small accessories that can be worn close to the body. It is an attempt to gently reconnect the interrupted time of the work in another form. In addition, I am presenting drawings made on Noto roof tiles that were rescued from damaged buildings.
This exhibition is conceived as an expression of gratitude and encouragement for people living with cancer, their families, and all those who support Genchan House. Works are available for purchase on request, and a portion of the proceeds will be used to support the activities of Genchan House and to help restore my earthquake-damaged installation for the Oku-Noto Triennale.
I hope that the time you spend in this gallery will offer a quiet moment in which to sense the subtle lights and colors that remain within a world of constant change.
Motoi Yamamoto
Organized by: Certified NPO “Living with Cancer” – Genchan House
In cooperation with: NPO Hiina Action / Oku-Noto Triennale Executive Committee / Fragments of Memory Project Committee / Kanazawa University Noto Satoyama Satoumi SDGs Meister
Supported by: Arts Council Kanazawa (Kanazawa City Cultural and Artistic Activities – Noto Recovery Support Program)
Supported by: Arts Council Kanazawa (Kanazawa City Cultural and Artistic Activities – Noto Recovery Support Program)
Related Programs
① Fragments of Memory Project – Accessory Workshop
Participants will encase grains of salt—originally used in the installation Corridor of Memories, which was destroyed in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake—into transparent resin to create unique accessories.
This hands-on workshop invites participants to preserve fragments of memory through the act of creation.
Date & Time: Sunday, November 23, 11:00 – 15:00
Venue: Gotchan House 4F
Participation Fee: ¥1,000 (Residents of the six municipalities north of Nanao, affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake, are invited free of charge.)
Reservation: Advance booking required → [Reservation Form]
General reservations open on November 9. A limited number of same-day slots may be available.
② Artist Talk – “Creating to Remember”
Motoi Yamamoto speaks about his long-standing practice of creation as remembrance – an artistic journey born from personal loss and sustained through community ties.
Date & Time: Sunday, November 23, 15:30 – 16:30
Venue: Gotchan House 3F
Admission: Free / No reservation required
