Emerging Forms

Coinciding with the exhibition “Emerging Forms” at Vague Kobe, Hiroto Nakanishi’s first monograph, Emerging Forms, has been published.

Based in a mountain village in Shiga Prefecture, Nakanishi begins his process by entering the forest and gathering fallen and decaying wood. Rather than treating wood simply as a material, he engages with the traces of time, memory, and life embedded within it, discovering form through an ongoing dialogue with the wood.

After training in furniture making, his practice shifted beyond function toward the notion of “presence” itself. He works with naturally shaped trees—weathered stumps, entwined vines, and lightning-struck sacred wood—spending years observing them until their latent forms emerge.

Produced in collaboration with Gallery NAO MASAKI, with art direction, graphic design, and editing by Teruhiro Yanagihara Studio and Vague Kobe, the book brings together images of his works alongside scenes from his studio and surrounding forest.