HAZUKI FUKUDA

Professional Artist/Author from Japan based in Germany

My Story

The reason why I wanted to become an artist was highly unromantic. I worked in an office where I could no longer see my colleague’s faces.

"How can I get out of here? As a child I liked to write stories and paint...''

Little by little, various themes and motifs came to my mind.

1. When I was longing for a profound change, the butterfly came into my life.

So I started to paint butterflies. The caterpillar goes through 4 stages of change before it spreads its beautiful wings. Therefore it is considered as the symbol for transformation. But how does a profound change in life come about?

2. Change from inside to outside

I always waited for something to change on the outside. In Vain. Only when I started changing my inner world my outer circumstances started to transform. The outer world was a reflection of my inner world.

3. Death, the greatest gift?

During this time three of my close relatives died. To get over it, I reconsidered on my views on death. In our society people tend to look at death through a negative image. But many near-death experiencers describe death as a beautiful experience. Can’t we find the chance to value our lives through death?

After that I wrote my book 'Thank You, Life, Thank You, Death' where I describe the healing process of my relationship to death.

"What do you see as the positive aspects of death?" I was asked in a magazine interview.

My answer: "I would like to address the issue of racism because I have experienced a lot of racism.

We are all born naked and leave everything behind when we die.

Then you realize: It makes no sense to judge people by their skin color or nationality.''

4. Compassion is the key

In the companies where I worked, I had to listen to insults like:

"I can't pronounce your name. Can't I just call you by your first letters?''

"You're just an Asian woman. I can harass you.''

"You immigrant sister.''

As soon as you try to defend yourself, you were stamped as emotional, unprofessional, and difficult. In addition I wanted to avoid conflicts at the place where you earn a living. So I suppressed my feelings "It is my fault that I can’t get by." That's why I found it hard to breathe.

In this time, when you can get information quickly, I value listening to each other's stories instead of judging too fast.

In my opinion the key to a society free from discrimination is: compassion. Compassion is the understanding for the other people’s story. Or maybe it is the realization that you can’t understand certain things you have not experienced. But nevertheless we can build together a future where everyone get the same chances and respect.

That is why my novels are characterized by vivid imagery and all my paintings are based on a story.

Stories don't condemn. Stories do not impose a point of view.

Isn't life like a story that makes sense in the end?

Artistic Career

Exhibitions & Publications (selection)

֍August 2019: Short story 'Snow White-complex' has been chosen in the open call for the anthology 'Im Bann der Seelendämmerung' and was published by the publisher Arcanum Fantasy. ISBN: 978-3-939139-24-9

֍October 2019: Poem 'The faith' passed the Bubenreuther Literature competition and was published in a book. ISBN: 978-3-7497-7135-6

֍July-August 2019: Solo-Exhibition 'Transformation' took place in the gallery of the police department in Germany

֍December 2019: 3 poems 'Respect' 'Donation' 'Freedom' have been presented in the anthology 'Barmherzig' (Anima incognita Kulturverein).

֍April 2020: Novel 'Thank you life, thank you death' has been published by the Austrian publisher United p.c. (ISBN: 978-3-7103-4714-6)

֍September 2020 and November 2021 Novel Reading at an event organized by the adult education center, German Japanese Society and bookstore Marktkirche, Hannover

֍October 2021: Oil painting 'Longing for Diversity' was selected in the design competition and exhibited as a printed poster in the gallery 'Clowns&Pferde' and Essen's urban space.

֍February-May 2022: Solo-Exhibition 'Paintings about war and racism' in the Peace Gallery of the Anti-War-Museum, Berlin

֍August 2022 Solo-Exhibition 'Return to the childlike happyness' within the event Kunstpunkte (Artpoints) organized by the cultural council.

֍November 2022: Group Exhibition Art Gallery Salonrogue, Leipzig

֍August 2023: Solo-Exhibition 'Paintings about dreams and wishes' Art Gallery Lotus, Düsseldorf

֍ April 2024: Exhibition 'Arts(Re)formation' during the Nacht der Museen (Night of the Museums) Event, Düsseldorf

֍ April 2024: Literature Reading 'Stories about Gray Zones' Reformator Art, Düsseldorf

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֍May 2024: Potrey Slam Finalist, Museum Morsbroich

֍October 2024: Zurich, Switzerland, short story about the painting 'Cohesion is the greatest rebellion' was published in the Zurich literary literary magazine 'Zwischentext'.

Video presentation of the reading shown at the literary festival 'Zürich liest'.

Scholarships & Memberships

June 2018: Scholarship from the International Theater-Festival 'Luaga&Losna' in Austria.

September 2021: Project support through a scholarship of the ministry of culture and science

Language skills: German: native speaker/ Japanese: native speaker/ English: fluent/ French: contractual level

Introduced in the magazines:

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