Artist Biography:

Tomoko Yamada is an artist and designer based in Broome, Western Australia. She worked in photographic studio and graphic design in Japan. At the same time, she was creating her own conceptual artworks. In 2008 she moved to Australia and her focus shifted to installation art, predominantly in fibre work. She communicates via “language of thread” to form a conceptual development into tangible sculptural and installation creations with performance facets. She draws inspiration from diverse areas including culture, history, language, journeys, streetscenes and noise; along with experimental art and music. Often her organic creations remain ‘works in progress’ as she continues to play with the possibilities of her abstract musings; perhaps varying installation formats at a later showing. She is also inclined to unite two or more of her works to enhance the conceptual value of her installations.

​

Tomoko learnt the almost lost, traditional practice of fishermen’s netmaking from an elderly Japanese man who worked as a deep-sea pearl diver when he was a young man. This has led her in a new direction for potential in artisitic representations. It is a dynamic activity she can apply to communicate the past, present and future through the language of thread. Thread is the key; symbolising the repetitive mapping process of human life, weaving lifelines, connecting points of existence, simple elements in a complex web. She gains personally from the messages she receives during her daily practice of working threads to bring into being an interweaving dialogue of an explanation of her inner life.

Tomoko Yamada’s most recent works; Common language of thread: Flow Movement (Studio Residency, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, 2021/2022, WA), Bricolage (Live projection art performance, Corrugated Lines Festival, 2021, WA), Flow Movement (Installation & Performance, Chinatown Discovery Festival & Broome Fringe Festival, 2021, WA), The Japanese in Broome (Public Art Design, Chinatown Revitalization Project Stage-2, 2020-2021, WA), Circular Sequence (Wangaratta Miniature Textile Art Ward Finalist Exhibition, 2020, VIC).