Personal Statement
EIKO YAMASHITA is a printmaker and painter based in Edinburgh. She graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Wimbledon College of Arts in 2002 and moved to Scotland the following year.
Her recent work explores nature, spirituality, and the human relationship with the natural world. Inspired by Hokusai and other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese artists who depicted mountains, lakes, forests, and other landscapes as objects of reverence, her practice draws on ideas rooted in Shinto and animism—belief systems that have profoundly influenced Japanese culture, philosophy, and artistic traditions.
Another central theme in her work is gravity. Through prints and paintings depicting the human body suspended in air or immersed in water, she explores opposing and interconnected states: restraint and stability, freedom and uncertainty, anxiety and healing. These works reflect the physical and psychological forces that shape our experience of the body, the natural world, and our sense of being.
Education
MA Fine Art (Printmaking)
2001–2002 — Wimbledon School of Art, England, UK
BA Fine Art (Printmaking course)
1994–1996 — Sokei Academy of Fine Art, Tokyo, Japan
BA Fine Art (Foundation & Core Studies)
1992–1994 — Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan
Professional Memberships
- Member, Edinburgh Printmakers (since 2008)
- Member, Society of Scottish Artists (since 2022)