Most of us erase mistakes without a second thought. The curled ribbons that gather beneath an eraser are little more than evidence of revisions before they’re brushed into the trash. But Saya Irie sees them differently. For Irie , they’re the beginning of something entirely new. The Japanese artist erases images and then uses those eraser shavings to recompose the images into three-dimensional form, transforming the byproduct of erasure into delicate works of art.
“One day, I was inexplicably drawn to a dust-covered book in an old bookstore,” says the artist, explaining the genesis behind one of her most-recent projects. “The book beautifully depicted colorful wild birds catching prey and warming eggs, as if in celebration of their lives.”
The artist erased these birds without a trace, transferring their information into eraser shavings. Tiny curls of rubber become petals, feathers, coral-like formations, or organic tree bark.
“By repeating this process, I am secretly raising 35 wild birds native to Indiana, USA, in a certain coffee shop in Hiroshima,” says the artist.
Born in Okayama in 1983 and currently based in Hiroshima, Saya Irie was recently selected to represent Japan in the 2027 Women to Watch exhibition. Her work will be on view next year at the the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington DC from April 9 through August 15, 2027.
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