Noriko Tomita

Noriko Tomita is a fiber artist based in Tokyo/Japan. She studied textile design at Tama Art University, Tokyo (2003–2007) and obtained her master’s degree (2010). Her works often appear to be made from unconventional materials but can be seen as »forms of everyday items liberated from recognition«.

In 2015 and 2018, she presented works made from mosquito nets – an everyday material familiar in Japan – at the 5th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial in Latvia (2015) and the festival Textile Art of Today in Slovakia (2018), respectively. Her artistic practice consistently explores the relationship between materials and techniques, aiming to evoke textile expression in a broader sense rather than focusing solely on textiles themselves. As part of the Arts & Ecology Research and Residency Program Desert 23°S in the Atacama Desert/Chile (2023), she created an installation in which shadows and stones formed the warp and weft of a »textile«.

In recent years, she has participated in artist-in-residence programs both in Japan and abroad, such as the artist-in-residence program of the Contemporary Textile Art Biennial Contextile (Portugal, 2024). She has also exhibited at major international art festivals in Japan, such as Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2022) and Setouchi Triennale (2016). Her work has received multiple awards, including recognition at the 3rd International Contemporary Textile Art Competition in Belgium (2011). In 2012, she was invited as a visiting lecturer at Da-Yeh University in Taiwan.