榎真弓は広島市出身の美術家・版画家です。1980年代にプリントメイキングを学んで以来、中でもエッチング技法を主に用いながら制作をしています。
榎は日々の営みに潜む現象を「unpredictability 予測不可能性」あるいは「randomness 無作為性」という視点より捉え、偶然がもたらす素材の可能性を探りながら作品化を試みています。
また、1990年代初めから2000年代中頃にかけては、大学や専門学校においてビジュアルアーツ、プリントメイキング、グラフィックデザイン等の教育にも携わりました。
英国王立画家・版画家協会 (Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers ) 准会員(ARE) 。
Enoki is a Japanese artist and printmaker. Enoki's artistic exploration focuses on capturing the hidden phenomena of everyday life from the perspective of 'unpredictability' or 'randomness'. She explores materials that possess these characteristics and channels them into works of art.
In her series entitled 'Binding and String', Enoki uses a metal binding technique inspired by the Japanese dyeing method known as Shiborizome. In this technique, string is used to prevent corrosion on a metal plate. The resulting plate becomes incredibly delicate, limiting the number of prints that can be made from it. Each print in the series has unique details, creating a variable edition. The transformation of materials that occurs during this process is irreversible and cannot be replicated.
According to Enoki, a print captures not only the image etched on the plate, but also the physical phenomenon that occurs during the corrosion and printing stages. She has developed a deep fascination with this element of unpredictability, as it resonates with her perception of the impermanence and randomness of life. Enoki believes that such concepts are deeply rooted in Japanese culture and contribute to the prevailing notions of beauty.
In her most recent prints, Enoki incorporates the chine-collé technique using metal leaf, inspired by the Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, where pottery is visibly repaired with gold. Through this artistic approach, Enoki explores the idea of embracing and cherishing the irreversible scars of our daily existence, recognising how these marks transform us in profound ways. She sees this as a natural process, acknowledging the imperfections and random elements that shape our lives.
Enoki holds an MA (RCA) from the Printmaking Course, Faculty of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art in the UK (1990) and a BA in Art Education from National Okayama University in Japan (1983).
She has been an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) since 2022.
Her work is held in public and corporate collections, including the Ashmolean Museum and the Clifford Chance LLP Collection in the UK, and the Osaka Contemporary Art Center and Kitayama and Company in Japan.
Enoki has been exhibiting in Japan and overseas since 1985. Some of the notable exhibitions she has participated in include: RE Original Prints (2023) , the Fuji Paper Art Museum solo exhibition "Mayumi Enoki-Bound" (2023), the International Original Print Exhibition (2022 and 2023), the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2021 and 2022), the Megalo Intaglio Online Exhibition (2020 and 2021), the Nishieda Foundation Grant Exhibition, a two-person exhibition as part of the Support to Emerging Curators and Artists programme (2019), and the Yozo Hamaguchi 100th Anniversary International Print Competition and Exhibition (2009).
In 2017, Enoki participated in the London Summer Intensive residency programme at the Slade School of Fine Art / Camden Arts Centre, and presented her work at the London Summer Intensive Showcase at the Camden Arts Centre.
Enoki also gave a Visiting Artist Talk as part of the Visiting Artist Talk Series at Taipei National University of the Arts, School of Fine Arts in 2016. She also received the Hiroshima Scholarship from the Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation, Inc. (1988-90).
From the early 1990s to the mid 2000s, Enoki worked as an associate professor and lecturer in graphic design and printmaking at various art colleges in Japan.