This is handcut paper, my normal medium. It began--as do all my pieces--as a freehand line drawing, from which I cut away all the negative space, leaving only the lines behind. I cut with an X-Acto knife from a single sheet of black, 98-pound Canson acid-free art paper. Cut, cut, cut, thousands of slivers fall like cherry blossoms, the image emerges. The black lines are the paper; the white spaces are the foam core upon which this piece is pinned. This piece is called Matsumoto Castle--a real historical building in my native Japan and a symbol of a bygone era. It is from my Emergence series. It depicts two women attempting to break free of a structure built by and for men. Presently, modern Japan is experiencing a sea change in the way it views women and uses them in the workforce. While Japan is still at the bottom of the rankings for the number of women executives in G7 countries, there is the desire and possible necessity for change. This piece points at that desire.