The series made during the Nectar residency establishes an intimate connection between environment, process and spectator. The uid and sensual brushstrokes –the fusion of the black characteristic of the sumi-e ink and the bright chromatic palette of the western watercolors– reverberate the nature of the Parc Natural de Les Guilleries –its mountains, its trees, its leaves, its rocks, water, sound or temperature– to take us to a moment of contemplation and harmony. The pictograms, which recall female and male bodies, reveal the dual character of the Eastern worldview, the yin and yang.

Born in Japan and settled in the United States for almost two decades, the double background has led her to place as one of her centers of interest the combination of the place of origin with the culture of the adopted country.

Aki Hoshihara was trained as a calligrapher according to the traditional method from 5 to 17 years. Manual skill cultivated with e ort, discipline and perseverance, calligraphy is, as well as a way of understanding the world that relates language to aesthetics, a spiritual exercise. The calligrapher must execute the brushstroke in a single gesture, without any hesitation. This gestural precision is only possible when the mushin (“mind without a mind”) is reached, a meditative state in which the movements ow freely. The works of Hoshihara then translate the energies of ki and chi at a speci c moment. The textures, colors and shapes that we see could only emerge at that time and in that place.