Transforming Tradition: Tape Art by Chiho Harazaki

Having grown up in Japan, Chiho Harazaki lives and works in Los Angeles as a tape artist. She cuts adhesive tape into tiny pieces with a precision knife and scissors in order to compose a whole picture. This unconventional art medium gives her works unique lines, patterns, and textures, evoking the feel of modern graphic design while also lending itself to works reminiscent of traditional Japanese arts like woodcut and papercutting. Synthesizing elements of Eastern and Western, traditional and modern culture in her art, Chiho’s work reveals her unique and distinctive personality and identity.

With artwork as a bridge between an artist’s mind and a viewer’s mind, Chiho strives to stimulate viewers to elevate their consciousness. She creates art with an intention of providing an introduction to approaching and viewing the universe in a different way, feeling the connection between all people and discovering more beauty and light in daily life. Perceiving life and the world from her evolving perspective as a first-generation immigrant, her artwork combines cultural, historical and narrative elements to convey her desires, hopes, and beliefs.

Chiho’s artwork has been exhibited individually and collectively, including at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Art Share L.A, and the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego. She has also been commissioned to create large-scale installations for the Japanese American Cultural Community Center in Los Angeles, the City of Santa Clarita, as well as for commercial clients like John Lobb.