."I am Manbi, a calligrapher . . I am from Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. . The style of my work is to do both traditional and paint calligraphy in parallel. I base my work on the history of calligraphy, which has a history of about 4,000 years, but I am also strongly influenced by the culture of hip-hop, graffiti, and tagging, which I have always loved."

."Calligraphy is a field where new styles are hard to come by, and I believe there is still room for growth. In that sense, I think it is easy to try new things, and I find it interesting that there is room for exploration. Also, I believe that the vibes and groove of a piece of writing will never go out of style, and will remain fresh even 1,000 or 2,000 years from now. So, when my work is dug up from the ground decades, centuries, or even thousands of years in the future, I hope that people will say, "Wow, what's this? I am excited to think that decades, centuries, or even thousands of years from now, when people dig my work up out of the ground, they will be able to feel what it was like to be there at that time.

."The way to learn calligraphy is to imitate the characters in its long history, but there will inevitably be parts that cannot be imitated. Conversely, something that does not follow the model can become unexpectedly good. I think that is what makes them unique. Also, for me, a unique style may be to create a mixture of hip-hop and street culture, since I like those things. I think that individuality combined with something else leads to a unique style."

."Self-expression as a calligrapher is all about how to create a perfect work of art in a situation where you can't screw up even once. However, that is a really high level, or rather, a very difficult task, so I spend a lot of individual time struggling, making mistakes, and accumulating various things in order to improve myself. By doing so, I spend my days trying to bring out the best of myself when it comes to self-expression as a calligrapher."

."UNEEK" is very light and easy to move around in, yet it feels as if you are stepping on the ground barefoot. It is easy to balance and to move freely, not only in everyday life, but also when creating large works of art. This is also the inspiration for the character "Jizai," which is used in one of the pieces in this exhibition.

."You can follow me on my website and social networking sites where I post my works. My account name is "66mami66" because I was born on June 6.

www.66mami66.com
www.instagram.com/66mami66/

."I finish all of my work on site. Sometimes I take my time, but I feel that I can express my personality better if I work with my feelings on the spot. Also, I do not take my works home with me, and I let them go from place to place until I find a place where they can be displayed. As for the reason for creating works of art, I started out doing calligraphy because I liked writing, but now I meet many people through calligraphy, share new values, expand my world, and take my writing to a new stage. This cycle continues, and I really enjoy the fact that my horizons are expanding more and more. So now, I feel as if I am meeting people I have never met before and creating works in order to learn new values.

.". mainly I get it from hip-hop. Lately, I feel very comfortable writing while listening to hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. I also really like the lines and silhouettes of skateboarding and BMX tricks, which also influence the lines and letterforms of my calligraphy. Of course, I am also strongly influenced by the history of calligraphy and the long-standing Japanese tradition of shrines and landscapes."

."I like Zojoji Temple. The Tokyo Tower is in the background of the temple, and I think it's really unique to have things that I don't know if they should be together, but are timeless, standing shoulder to shoulder. The contrast between the Tokyo Tower and the temple is really interesting. . I also like Shibuya, which is a place where I was able to update myself, although this is not a trigger. I am now a calligrapher, but before that, I had various part-time jobs in Shibuya. At the time, I was doing menial work, but now the senior people at my part-time jobs are looking out for me, and they even give me jobs as a calligrapher. In that sense, I owe a lot to this place."

.". This is the sea in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is also my hometown. I love the sea that flows from the Sea of Japan to the Seto Inland Sea, which can be seen between the factory towns, because it is so powerful. I used to paint a lot of landscapes, and I frequently painted that sea then."