For Kochi-born Goda Sawako (1940–2016), her first solo show in 1965 marked the start of an artistic career that cut across the genres of objets d’art, painting, and photography. Her collaborations with the theater giants Kara Juro and Terayama Shuji, her affinity with fields outside art such as fashion and music, and the acclaim she received from critics including Takiguchi Shuzo made her a living incarnation of Japan’s flourishing underground art scene. But then, in the 1990s, she cast off her decadent style to begin cultivating a luminous, more introspective world.

Goda kept aloof from the trends of the times and was not afraid to reinvent herself. The rich body of works born from that stance and from her peerless originality shines a guiding light for us today.

[publisher's note]