Someone is Always Awake

Yoko Akino, Someone is Always Awake, etching

Someone is Always Awake was the first work I saw by Yoko Akino and what first attracted me to it was the stillness. It was the kind of quiet magic you might experience in the late evening, when the bustle of the day is far behind you and the dawn of the new day is still far away, when in the quiet calm the sky is full of stars winking at you with an inexplicable joy. The second thing that attracted me to the print - in addition to the undeniable beauty of the minimalist composition and strong colours - was its title. Someone is Always Awake. It is a feeling that we are never alone - not in the Big Brother sense but in the sense of the Universe watching over us, guiding us along the often meandering paths of our chosen realities.

Yoko Akino, It is Happening Even if Nobody Hears It, etching and acquatint

Yoko Akino, It is There Even if Nobody Sees It, etching and aquatint

Akino seems to ask the age-old question of “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Is there an unobserved world that exists without being perceived by consciousness? It is Happening Even if Nobody Hears It and It is There Even if Nobody Sees It (see above) are two beautiful examples of her answer.

Yoko Akino, The End and the Beginning, etching and aquatint

Born in Japan in 1967, Yoko Akino started drawing at a young age. In 1996 she moved to Dublin, where she is now recognised as one of Ireland’s leading printmakers.

Gently questioning our narrative and perception of reality through vivid images centred in nature, Akino’s work is influenced by the coastline and ocean views from her home on the Cooley Peninsiula on the east coast of Ireland, as well as her memories of the Honshu coastline between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean.