A o i r o h a

—— 青いろは ——

“A o i r o h a” is a word coined by Asami. Ao means Blue in Japanese, and Iroha is an ancient Japanese poem from 10 to 11th century. This poem is unique in that uses all of the Japanese Syllables.

Even the blossoming flowers

 will eventually scatter

who in our world unchanging?

The deep mountains of Karma-

we cross them today

and we shall not be superficial nor be deluded

In this collection, there are two dominant shades of blue utilized to bring the paintings to life. Indigo blue depicts the winter mountains and the sea, and light blue represents the icy glaciers. Asami wanted to translate to her canvas the tranquil silence and fragility she felt from the colour blue. Similar to the blossoming flowers in the poem, Iroha, Asami drew parallels with her interpretation of glaciers that will eventually melt and scatter into many shades of blue, representing the invariable array of emotions that life brings.