Artist Fumi Imamura’s collages look like bouquets from a beguiling, yet-t0-be-discovered planet. She herself is rather otherworldly. Instead of growing her flowers from seed, Imamura conjures them entirely on paper that she meticulously paints, cuts out, and applies, roots and all, in enchanting arrangements.
Based in Aichi, in central Japan—Imamura received her MFA from Kanazawa College of Art in 2008—she works often on the floor with her cat at her side and has described her art as capturing “the wordless poetry” of plants.
The Garden of Musubi, a solo show of Imamura’s art curated by Julia Tarasyuk, just opened at Lyndsey Ingram gallery in London, and is up through July 18. “Imamura’s paper gardens do not merely represent nature, they embody it, its repetitions, its fragility, and its resilience,” writes Tarasyuk.
Here’s a look at Imamura in her studio and her latest work, plus a glimpse of her first London show.
Photography courtesy of Fumi Imamura and Lyndsey Ingram gallery via Julia Tarasyuk.
Above: Fumi Imamura’s installation is at Lyndsey Ingram’s recently opened second gallery space at 16 Bourdon Street a few doors from the gallery’s original venue at 20 Bourdon St. Both occupy converted Edwardian stables in the Mayfair Conservation Area and this one has its original tiles.
Above: Imamura’s One Flower (Red Flower), a 2025 collage and watercolor on paper.
Her work is easy to mistake as pressed flowers, but Imamura entirely invents her pieces on paper: painting petals, stems, and roots; meticulously cutting them out; and then applying them on paper. Creating collages, rather than paintings, and using ghostly, rumpled paper as her canvas, gives her pieces dimension—and intrigue.
Above: Imamura in her studio surrounded by work for her current show. Her Instagram reads, “I’m painter. I am in an invisible garden.”
Wondering about her semi-transparent backdrops? They’re glassine, the shiny, crinkly paper familiar as the envelopes that sheets of stamps come in.
Above: A fragile work in progress. Imamura pastes cutouts of paper flowers, stems, and roots onto glassine.
Above: Imamura’s Two Tied Flowers (Yellow Flower), a 2025 collage and watercolor.
Tarasyuk, who has curated several Imamura shows, notes: “Her delicate multilayered creations resemble dried flowers pressed into the pages of a book, but on a wall-sized scale. These plants derive their charm not only from their branching, budding, insect-nibbled blossoms and leaves, but also from their poignantly rendered roots. Echoing the ethos of Japanese crafts, Imamura’s works speak to the beauty of the cracked, the faded, and the lovingly preserved.”
Above: The Garden Of Musubi installation at Lyndsey Ingram. Prices on request.
“Musubi is the Japanese word for tying,” explains Imamura. “The word and act of tying also has the meanings of giving birth, being born, and binding. In Japan there is also a god called Musubi. This is the God of Creation. The Japanese words for God and paper have the same sound, Kami. My flowers are born from paper.”
Above: One Flower (Red Flowers) in process on tatami mats.
Above: Another Garden Of Musubi view, including the finished One Flower (Red Flowers).
Here’s how Imamura describes this collage on Instagram: “I used very strong red paint for this red flower. Red is a special color for me. It is a color with power that makes my heart clench…The mysterious roots look like the hair of a girl with a hair ornament, and her presence brightens everyone’s day.”
Above: Imamura’s first solo show at Lyndsey Ingram in 2023 was titled The Moon Garden, Their Garden. Take a look at the gallery’s video of Imamura’s practice and how the exhibition came together.
Fumi Imamura’s current show is on view at Lyndsey Ingram gallery, 16 Bourdon Street in London, through July 18. For inquiries, write to info@lyndseyingram.com.
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