Yoshinobu Nakagawa (b.1964) has been creating works with papers and fabrics that are somewhere between painting and sculpture. Mist of Seeds, his third documentary film, captures his recent work and concepts while documenting his working process without words. Human creations are artificial and once they are placed in nature, they often feel vulnerable or extraneous. The film challenges and explores Nakagawa’s work by daringly installing them in nature. The film represents the forms, colors and air of nature that inhabit our memories, that are so hard to put into words, and is a record of his artistic life over 30 years.

At the screening of Living in the foot of a mountain, my previous documentary on Yoshinobu Nakagawa, at Montreal Film Festival 12 years ago, another participating film director commented that the film was “so peaceful”. Looking back now, I realize I didn’t quite understand what he meant back then. Many of Nakagawa’s semi-painting and semi-sculpture works evoke a sense of nature. Over the years, I have come to the idea of installing his work in real nature. I have a feeling Nakagawa would have wanted to step out from a beautifully controlled white cube and to place his work in the mountain where the surrounding - air, water and light, changes. This silent film is a record of his new exploration. I wonder if it’s any more peaceful than his last film.