The artistic practice of Ena Nagao is born from small moments and subtle feelings of discomfort encountered in everyday life. The more ordinary the scene, the more it can evoke a sense of strangeness or quiet humor. Casual words or gestures, the relationship between mountains and clouds, or an insect crawling on a hand—these seemingly mundane moments often hold strong impressions. Sometimes, such familiar occurrences unexpectedly reveal a vastness as if harboring a “secret of the universe.” Ena Nagao strives to capture and preserve these sensations in tangible form.

Ena Nagao uses wood as the material for her sculpture. Wood carving is a technique deeply rooted in Japanese tradition, and she deliberately uses this classical method to inscribe contemporary sensibilities. From the artist’s perspective, wood once held life and continues to breathe even after being cut, existing in an ambiguous state between life and death. Its uncertainty and tendency to warp unpredictably through drying resonate with the strangeness and fluctuations she senses in daily life. Ena Nagao intentionally leaves chisel marks on the surface of sculpture so that the accumulation of daily actions remains visible. Through this, the artist aims to demonstrate through form that monotony, ordinariness, and beauty can coexist.

The role of the artist is to offer viewers a different filter through which to discover the strangeness and humor lurking within the familiar world. Through this experience, the artist hope they can sense the breadth of perspectives and feelings each person holds.