Mika Taga

Working with found and salvaged wood, I make objects that explore cycles, turning points, changes. When thinking of change in-process, I envision the curvature of experience. Processes of change and transformation are inherent to recycled material. To shape salvaged wood is emergent. It is a dialogue between oneself, material, and environment. It arises intuitively through listening and responding to the material. As the form takes shape, it articulates unseen space, tracing the convergence of inner and outer experience. The objects serve as a reminder of cyclical phenomena. Forms that highlight the unseen threads of evolution – inner and outer—as one learns to navigate moral calls to action and opportunities to learn, be changed, and to affect change. Where one can see and touch the shape of connection and deep listening. Where the interstice is activated, revealed to be an open space of potential, relaying the feeling of a curved net of interconnection, undulating through concave and convex formations that energetically extend to support and liberate us. The healing occurs in the intersection of disparate experiences and ways of knowing, inner and outer, new and old, self and other. It is the practice of increasing tolerance for the unknown. As one listens and learns from a multiplicity of sounds, pieces of the puzzle come together, reimagining and shaping a new reality, to reveal and remember the interdependence of the whole.