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、主にエッチング技法を用いて制作を続けています。
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、素材の可能性を探りながら不可視な事象を作品化することを試みています。
また、1990年代初めから2000年代半ばにかけては、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 准会員 (Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers: ARE)。
Method of Working
Since the 1980s, Mayumi Enoki has been exploring how invisible phenomena can be inscribed onto physical materials. During her studies at the Royal College of Art (1988–1990), she developed foundational techniques through experimental investigations that would later inform her current Binding and String series (2019–present).
This series draws inspiration from the traditional Japanese shiborizome dyeing technique, where string is used to define boundaries that both protect and expose metal plates to corrosion. The plates are repeatedly immersed in acid, allowing randomness and unpredictability to generate marks as the plates gradually transform. Acid etches the plate, leaving traces that reveal invisible phenomena emerging from material encounters. Each plate becomes fragile, yielding only a limited number of impressions, each inscribed with subtle differences that reflect the ephemeral nature of the process.
Enoki also incorporates the philosophy of Japanese kintsugi, applying metal leaf through the chine-collé technique to emphasise both fragility and resilience, accident and intention. The contrast between the reflective metallic leaf and the organic surface of the corroded plate creates a dialogue that speaks to both strength and delicateness. This approach results in variable editions — unique impressions from a single plate, no two ever the same.
Artist’s Statement
Drawing on explorations that began in the 1980s, Enoki’s work is influenced by the Buddhist concept of “emptiness” (空, in Japanese). This concept embodies the inherent contradictions and impermanence of life, and suggests that all phenomena are interconnected and without a fixed or independent self. This perspective shapes Enoki's creative process, subtly guiding her exploration of intention and unpredictability.
In her work, Enoki seeks to explore the hidden spaces that emerge between presence and absence, form and formlessness. By creating boundaries through the use of string, she establishes conditions where different states can encounter one another - protection and corrosion, intention and chance. The process of corrosion, central to her technique, visually captures the essence of “emptiness” – nothing remains fixed, and everything is in flux, similar to the continuous transformation experienced in life. The interaction of metal, acid and time serves as a metaphor for the way in which the uncertainty of life leaves traces that are as unique and unreproducible as each passing moment.
Through this creative process, Enoki captures fleeting moments that embody the invisible forces at work in both material and conceptual realities. These invisible phenomena are inscribed into material form, transforming abstract encounters into tangible traces on the plate. Each print is created by random elements, and within this unpredictability, she intuitively uncovers moments of beauty and order. The delicate balance between accidental and intentional forms reflects the complexity of life itself, where control and uncertainty coexist, creating spaces for contemplation on the transient nature of our experiences.
Enoki’s work invites the viewer to engage with these moments of impermanence, to consider the subtle beauty found within change and uncertainty. Through variable editions, each impression becomes unique and unrepeatable, embodying the Buddhist understanding that no moment can ever return. In this way, Enoki's work offers a reflection on the interconnectedness of all things and the delicate spaces that shape our reality.
Biography
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 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.
Since 2022, she has been an Associate Member (ARE) of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), London.
Enoki has been exhibiting in Japan and overseas since 1985. Some of the notable exhibitions she has participated in include: RE Original Prints (2023, 2024, 2025), London Original Print Fair (2023, 2024, 2025), the Fuji Paper Art Museum solo exhibition “Mayumi Enoki-Bound” (2023), the International Original Print Exhibition (2022, 2023, 2024), the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2021, 2022), the Megalo Intaglio Online Exhibition (2020, 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.
Her work is held in public and corporate collections, including the RE Diploma Collection and the Clifford Chance LLP Collection in the UK, and the Osaka Contemporary Art Center and Kitayama and Company in Japan.