Kumi Yamashita is a Japanese‑born artist based in New York who builds delicate, image‑forming sculptures from everyday materials and a single light source. She trained at Cornish College of the Arts (BFA) and Glasgow School of Art (MFA) and has shown widely, with solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Seattle Art Museum and group shows at venues including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. “I sculpt using both light and shadow. I construct single or multiple objects and place them in relation to a single light source.”
Her best‑known series, Constellation, makes portraits by winding one unbroken thread around thousands of galvanized brads on a white panel so that the dark areas are produced solely by densely overlapped thread. She also creates shadow sculptures from cut paper, fabric and found objects, always composing the physical elements so a single lamp casts the intended silhouette; this process often begins with a clear image in her mind and long studio trial and error.
Yamashita’s work is in public and private collections worldwide and has earned awards and residencies including the Pollock‑Krasner grant and the Crystal Kirin Award. She draws inspiration from the human figure and from cross‑cultural encounters, and she describes her practice as a quiet, precise choreography of material and light that turns ordinary objects into contemplative portraits.
