Ryoko Aoki’s (Hyogo, 1973) delicate and fantastic illustrations take inspiration from things around her like plants, dry food, encyclopedia maps, bathroom tiles, flower patterns, dead leaves and old people in the neighborhood and their fashion. Especially for this publication, Aoki assembles her past works similarly to a child playing with toy building blocks.

Manifesting themselves in a variety of media, Aoki's works are fundamentally based in drawing. Using feathery pencil strokes, stippled felt pen marks, and sure-handed contour drawings, Aoki sketches a morphing world outside of everyday reality. Entire landscapes exist at the same scale as individual details, figures morph into objects, and disparate elements exist in perfect harmony. Aimee Chang, Hammer Museum

This Zine is published in collaboration with Pro-qm for Documenta 12, the international art exhibition in Kassel, Germany, where Aoki is the sole living Japanese artist exhibiting work in the Aue Pavilion.