Nana Yamazaki
(b. 1994)
BornShiga Prefecture, Japan
ActiveKōka City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
BiographyNana Yamazaki covers clothing with yarn and thread until the original garment is unrecognizable. Under the weight and warping of the stitching, the fabric distorts and puckers into new forms. Rather than using knots, she sews multiple pieces of thread or yarn in a rainbow of colors in one place until it all fixes together. This process gives her works a dense texture, like the fur of some unruly animal, and they are further enhanced by random cuts to the lengths of thick wool yarn. In her largest pieces, she transforms furniture and jumpsuits so they appear to be fantastic beings. In a world with an abundance of cast-off clothing, Yamazaki gives discarded textiles new life.Yamazaki was born in 1994 and lives in the Shiga Prefecture in Japan. Since 2012, she has been a member of Atelier Yamanami in Kōka City, a workshop that supports the art practices of people with disabilities. Fashion is an ongoing interest for Yamazaki. Her early art was drawing: she would sketch row after row of posed fashion models—based on images from magazines—in ballpoint pen on paper, carefully giving each a distinct style. Around 2014, this passion evolved into the transformation of donated shirts, belts, coveralls, scarves, and other pieces into fiber art. Over time her work has become increasingly elaborate, with more and more thread and yarn enveloping the clothing, so it becomes unwearable and is reborn as a sculptural object.
Her work was featured in the 2018 exhibition Art Brut from Japan, Another Look at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the 2022 exhibition Mirror Mirror—Fashion & the Psyche at MoMU: Fashion Museum Antwerp and Dr. Guislain Museum in Ghent, Belgium.
Allison C. Meier, 2025
Text written as part of “Rethinking Biography,” an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).