Drawing Emotion into Sound — “yohaku” series

“yohaku” series is a body of work that portrays the inner landscape of the mind through countless hand-drawn lines, each created while listening to the ambient sounds of everyday life. Rather than focusing on visible forms, it seeks to capture the invisible—atmosphere, the flow of time, and shifting emotions.

During creation, I draw each line by hand while listening to sounds recorded through field recording: city noise, rain, flowing water, passing wind. Immersing myself in these sounds allows outer stimuli and inner reactions to merge, and each fleeting thought or emotion takes form as a single line.

Each line itself is a moment of emotion. When hundreds or thousands of these accumulate, a singular shape begins to emerge. The resulting abstract forms may resemble stones—layered like strata of the heart, or accumulations of passing time.

While the drawings are done by hand in digital space, I use a plotter to produce the physical output. The program controlling the plotter also listens to the same ambient sounds, and adjusts the drawing’s speed and nuance in response to what it hears.

Through an interface, I respond in real time to what I feel from the plotter’s movements—emotion moving back and forth like a conversation. Creating each piece becomes a dialogue of resonance between myself and the program. The result is a line that could not be drawn by either of us alone.

Each piece is accompanied by the ambient sound that was heard during its making. By listening while viewing, the work opens a subtle link between the viewer’s inner space and the space the piece inhabits.

I believe that “yohaku”—emptiness or margin—is not simply a blank area. It holds a presence that can only be felt because it is not filled, and a quietude that can only be received when not spoken. The work does not end within itself, but begins to emerge through connection with what lies outside. Through this openness, I hope to draw a form of yohaku that invites stillness into the world.