Center and Periphery
“Nihonga materials create a cacophony of sensuality and extravagance. They are an ideal medium for capturing the expansive vision of a world centered by God, a world in which the core allows the freedom to explore the boundaries. As a child, I loved to fill in the borders of my works, from my paintings to ceramic ashtrays. The periphery, to me, is as significant as the center. The peripheral may end up defining in us the very essence of humanity. We are not machines, centripetally driven to finish a task; we are created to be centrifugal forces of outward expression, delighting in the borders. God did not tell Adam and Eve to not explore the periphery; He forbade them from exploring the center. The core of existence is symbolized by a tree because the center needs to be, at least for the time being, unexplored. Art, such as in the delicious marks in the borders of Medieval manuscripts, pushes us outward, beyond the borders. But of course, such outward movement, as all centrifugal movements, cannot be attained without a center.”
– Makoto Fujimura, River Grace