Yumiko Hirokawa “Silent Resistance”

March 21 - May 9, 2026

Opening reception: Saturday March 21, 5-7pm

Silent Resistance

Even if a time comes when expressing one’s own opinions becomes difficult,
I will continue to paint small flowers, just as I always have.

For me, painting against war is a quiet act of receiving memories and carrying them into the future.
I look toward loss and death that are not always visible, and I listen carefully to pain that has not been spoken.

I make paintings to create a space where viewers can pause and reflect with me.

If, within that space, pain and prayer can be shared, and a hope for the future can quietly begin to grow,
then my painting becomes, for me, a modest practice against forgetting—
and a form of prayer.

Yumiko Hirokawa was born and grew up in Osaka, Japan. Yumiko is a 2003 graduate of the Corcoran Collage of Arts and Design. She also graduated the Doshisha University in Japan. She has exhibited her art in Japan, China, Korea, and the US. Her work is housed in the collection of Ninbo Museum of Art in Ninbo, China. As a student at The Corcoran at the time of the September 11th attack that event has been a major influence on the direction of her art. Her art is a prayer for the many people who have suffered from disasters and conflicts around the world. She has painted scenes of modern society using aluminum leaf.