A Journey of Loss, Discovery, and Creation
The path to artistic expression is rarely a straight line, and for Miho Inagaki, it was an odyssey shaped by unexpected turns. Originally working as an editor, she found herself consumed by the relentless pace of her profession, to the point where she felt unmoored from herself. Seeking to regain a lost sense of identity, she made a bold decision—she left everything behind and set out on a journey. Choosing a route that would test her resilience, she traveled from the Middle East, where she had no familiarity with the language and little information to rely on, and continued to India. It was not a voyage of leisure but one of challenge, forcing her to navigate the unfamiliar and confront herself in a way she had never done before.
Upon returning, she moved to a new place and was introduced to pottery. It was not an immediate passion but rather an exercise in frustration. Shaping clay proved difficult, and she found herself struggling with its tactile demands. Lacking the technical skills to mold it as she envisioned, she felt disconnected from the process. Yet, over time, something shifted. What had once felt like an insurmountable challenge gradually became a source of fascination. Watching forms emerge from the potter’s wheel, witnessing raw materials take shape and solidify, she began to appreciate the quiet transformation happening before her eyes.
Inagaki never intended to become an artist. Yet, without a formal plan or conscious ambition, she found herself unable to stop creating. Her first solo exhibition in 1990 was a turning point, showcasing a collection of creatures that had materialized from her imagination and her hands. What began as an exploration of form soon became an integral part of her life. Since that moment, she has held solo and group exhibitions nearly every year, each time refining her vision, expanding her techniques, and embracing the unpredictability of creation.
Miho Inagaki: Sculpting the Unconscious into Reality
Inagaki’s work is shaped by an intuitive process, where forms seem to emerge of their own volition. Rather than imposing rigid structures or premeditated concepts, she allows her materials to guide her. Her ceramic creatures, for instance, are not meticulously designed beforehand but rather appear spontaneously while she works at the potter’s wheel. These organic, otherworldly figures seem as though they have been unearthed rather than sculpted—beings that existed in the ether, waiting to take shape through her hands.
Beyond these creatures, her artistic practice extends to an experimental fusion of clay and stainless steel mesh. This combination of materials, each with its own properties and rates of shrinkage, introduces an element of controlled unpredictability. As the clay dries and contracts differently from the metal, it creates dynamic tensions within the piece, lending a sense of both fragility and strength. This interplay of elements—softness and rigidity, organic and industrial—mirrors the broader themes in her work: transformation, contradiction, and coexistence.
In addition to her sculptural explorations, Inagaki creates practical objects, everyday items meant to be used rather than merely observed. For her, there is no boundary between function and artistry. A cup, a bowl, or a dish can carry the same sense of evolution and impermanence as her more abstract works. These objects are not simply utilitarian but infused with the same philosophy that permeates her sculptures—the belief that everything is in a state of constant change, always shifting, always being reborn.
Between Ancient Echoes and Modern Experimentation
Though self-taught, Inagaki’s influences are deeply rooted in history and materiality. She is particularly drawn to Japan’s ancient Jomon pottery, an early form of ceramic art characterized by its bold, tactile patterns and primal energy. To her, Jomon pottery is more than just an artifact of the past—it represents a foundational language of form, one that continues to inspire contemporary creation. The coiled, rough-hewn textures and instinctive designs resonate with her own approach, in which spontaneity and raw expression take precedence over refinement and precision.
Another influence that weaves through her work is silvered glass, a material that encapsulates the beauty of age and erosion. The weathered, oxidized surfaces of silvered glass evoke the passage of time, much like the cracked and textured surfaces of her sculptures. This fascination with aging—how materials wear, decay, and reveal new layers over time—aligns with her artistic philosophy. Rather than seeking to create pristine, polished objects, she embraces the imperfections that arise through the process of making.
These inspirations are not constraints but points of departure. Inagaki does not seek to replicate traditional techniques but to absorb their essence and reinterpret them in ways that feel authentic to her. Her art does not adhere to a fixed style or set of rules. Instead, it exists as a constantly evolving dialogue between past and present, structure and fluidity, permanence and transience. Each piece she creates carries echoes of ancient forms while remaining distinctly contemporary, shaped by both instinct and experimentation.
Miho Inagaki: The Fragility and Strength of Impermanence
There is a paradox at the heart of Inagaki’s work—her sculptures often appear aged, worn, and weathered, yet they possess an undeniable vitality. The cracked surfaces, layered textures, and fragmented forms suggest decay, but rather than conveying loss, they seem to hold a quiet resilience. These are not relics of destruction but manifestations of renewal, each piece embodying the idea that change is not an end but a continuation.
Her anthropomorphic figures, often resembling hybrid creatures with elongated limbs and abstracted features, carry an almost mythical presence. They are neither entirely human nor fully animal, but something in between—totemic guardians of an imagined past or an unknown future. Their surfaces are often adorned with patterns that feel both ancient and instinctively modern, bridging folk traditions with contemporary abstraction. These beings seem to exist outside of time, as if they have been excavated from another era yet still pulse with life.
This sense of transformation extends beyond her figurative work. Inagaki’s architectural fragments and sculptural objects often incorporate elements that appear fractured or incomplete, yet this incompleteness is precisely what makes them compelling. There is an openness in her forms, an invitation to interpret their evolution rather than seek a definitive conclusion. By allowing materials to crack, shift, and settle in unpredictable ways, she acknowledges the natural process of change rather than resisting it.
Her art does not merely depict impermanence—it embodies it. Whether through her spontaneous ceramic creatures, her experiments with metal and clay, or her functional objects that carry traces of the handmade, Miho Inagaki’s work reminds us that nothing remains static. Everything is in flux, continuously shaping and reshaping itself. And in that ever-changing landscape, beauty emerges—not in perfection, but in the quiet acceptance of transformation.
