Asian Artists to Watch 2024: Etsu Egami

Each year, we identify the Asian artists on the rise, shining a light on the exciting and provocative works enriching the region’s artistic and cultural landscape. Japanese artist Etsu Egami shares her story.

Artist and global citizen Etsu Egami has lived in the US and Europe, and actively works between Tokyo and New York, London and Beijing. Constantly shifting between countries and cultures, Egami has experienced various communication barriers in her lifetime, and describes language as something that can “only
be sensed, not explained”. Her work thus focuses heavily on the discipline of language and communication, using various media forms, including voice, video and drawings, to question humankind’s instincts and the authenticity of communication. Egami is also a postdoctoral researcher at Tsing Hua University.

Her works are collected by notable institutions such as the He Art Museum, Hiroshima Woodone Museum of Art, Central Academy of Fine Art Museum, Yusaku Maezawa Collection, Nanjo Art Museum, Yuan Art Museum, Yi Lian Foundation, Damei Museum, Longlati Foundation, Tree Art Museum, Masamichi Toyama Collection, Korea Suncheon City Art Centre, Hua Wei Collection, How Museum and Masatoshi Kumagai collection. Receiving wide acclaim for her site-specific works, Egami also exhibited at Kiaf Seoul last year.

Etsu Egami, Red light, green light (2023)

Her most recent exhibitions include Etsu Egami, Obsession and Question, New Horizons of Modern Painting (Woodone Museum of Art, Japan), Entrance Gallery Vol.1: Etsu Egami (Chiba City Museum of Art, Japan) and a group show at the Nassima Landau Foundation, Israel.