On Rupture and Creative Continuity with Keita Miyazaki

CDH Talks continues its exploration of contemporary artistic practices that engage with ecological uncertainty, material memory, and post-catastrophic thinking.

In this conversation, artist Keita Miyazaki reflects on the formative impact of the 2011 tsunami on his practice, and how experiences of rupture and natural force have shaped his understanding of creation itself. His work moves between destruction and renewal, treating materials not as static remnants, but as carriers of layered histories and ongoing transformation.

Rather than positioning art as commentary or response, Miyazaki’s practice suggests a more continuous relationship between making and unmaking—where creativity emerges within cycles of fragility, adaptation, and reconstitution.

This dialogue examines how lived experience of disaster informs artistic language, and how materiality can become a site where past, present, and unfinished futures converge.

CDH Talks: The 2011 tsunami profoundly influenced your artistic practice. How did that event change not only what you create, but also why you create?

Keita Miyazaki: Seeing the situation being ruthlessly destroyed by nature, I deeply felt the fragility of civilization and the powerlessness of humans. However, after destruction comes rebirth, and with it, creativity. This experience made me realize once again that creating is not something that happens spontaneously, but rather something that exists in a continuous and relational process.

CDH Talks: Natural disasters often expose the fragility of the systems we rely on. How has this awareness shaped your understanding of contemporary society?

Keita Miyazaki: We feel that disasters caused by extreme weather are a significant threat today. However, Japan, where I was born and raised, has historically been a place prone to natural disasters, and each time, this has spurred creativity and adaptation. Therefore, this is not only a question of contemporary society, but also of how the ecosystem—encompassing both nature and humanity—has been shaped over time and how it can continue to exist in the future.

CDH Talks: In a century increasingly defined by climate crises and environmental uncertainty, do you see your work as carrying a warning or a message of hope?

Keita Miyazaki: My answer also depends on how viewers engage with the work. Rather than functioning as a warning, I hope my work serves as a source of hope that stimulates human creativity and reflection.

CDH Talks: Can we understand the materials you work with not merely as remnants of the past, but as vessels of unfinished futures?

Keita Miyazaki: The materials I work with are relics of the past, but I also see them as structures shaped by the involvement of many people, and as complex entities formed through their interaction with nature. The works created through my hands, in that sense, embody an ongoing and unfinished future.

CDH Talks: Do you believe art has a responsibility to respond to collective trauma, or should it remain independent from such expectations?

Keita Miyazaki: Art has the capacity to respond to traumatic experiences, but I do not think it has a responsibility to do so. Art should remain independent and open, although there are limits to that independence. Ultimately, I believe it depends on the attitude of the viewer when engaging with the work.

CDH Talks: If you could leave one lasting contribution to the world, what would it be?

Keita Miyazaki:  I do not know if I can make a contribution, but I hope that my work can have some form of lasting positive influence on the world.