Against the Thaw

GALLERY HAYASHI + ART BRIDGE is pleased to present "Against the Thaw", a solo exhibition by Kurumi Ono, on view from 18 April to 16 May 2026.

At the core of Kurumi Ono’s practice lies an interrogation of the relationship between ruten—the law of transience where all things eventually return to the earth—and the primal human instinct to preserve, to hold onto the ephemeral forever. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Ono has consistently pursued a singular methodology: burying photographs in soil. By casting the photograph—a device designed to freeze time—into the earth, she invites a process where moisture and bacteria decompose and reconstruct the image. This act visualises the paradox of a photograph, an emblem of preservation, undergoing transformation. Within these works, chance encounters beyond human control are vividly etched as an accumulation of time.

In this exhibition, Ono deepens this inquiry, presenting a new approach: hand-stitching transformed photographic fragments back onto their original, unaltered counterparts. In the "flowers" series, pairs of photographs capturing the same bloom are presented together. One has had its form decomposed by the soil, while the other retains its former clarity, bound together by a single thread. This represents a record of the quiet friction where the opposing forces of "surrendering to nature" and "manual human intervention" coexist within a single frame.

In the series "My Private World", Ono addresses deeply personal memories and experiences, such as diaries, notes, and scars etched on the body. Past memories, no matter how firmly we attempt to anchor them, are destined to dissipate over time. Confronted with this inevitable disappearance, Ono deliberately pierces the surface with a needle and thread. Even if these stitches may one day unravel, the act of attempting to connect current emotions and memories serves as a profound manifestation of the human urge to preserve.

"Against the Thaw" asks each viewer: in an ever-changing world, what do we lose, and what do we strive to retain? The exhibition functions as a space where the irresistible flow of time intersects with the faint but resilient will of the individual.