Mizuki Nishiyama is an artist of mixed Japanese heritage whose work spans painting, sculpture, tapestry, poetry, and performance.

 

Her art explores the fragile human condition, focusing on the female experience and its socio-political dimensions. Using soil from her ancestral land in Japan—where her military forebears are buried since the 1400s—Nishiyama engages with themes of ancestry, womanhood, and time.

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In her paintings, Nishiyama incorporates her ancestral soil and employs a knife-cutting technique to explore the tension between violence and tranquility. Her tapestries draw inspiration from the Shinto concept of Kami, or "God," using organic fabrics that are burned, buried, and revitalized through a detailed sewing process that reflects life’s cycles and the female narrative.

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Nishiyama’s work bridges her diverse cultural heritage, which includes Hong Kong, Japanese, and Italian influences.

 

Nishiyama holds a Master of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design. Her solo exhibitions include Shunga (2020) at Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong, An Exploration of Human Fragility: Love & Lust (2020) at the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, and 脆い Moroi: An Exploration of Human Fragility (2019) at Greenpoint Gallery, New York.