June 10th, 2013 
partizan 
Berlin, Germany-based artist Moki finds inspiration in Japanese artist Hayao Miyazaki’s work (Spirited Away) as well as in nature. Her acrylic paintings are filled with images of northern landscapes or as she describes more specifically as “isolated Scandinavian and Icelandic terrain, a subarctic frozen lake continent, untouched caves and moss meadows, and mountains sculpted into anatomical shapes by wind and water.” Moki merges humans with nature, cloaking them in lush green meadows or a calm sea of water.
When asked why she combines humans with nature, Moki said, “The beings disappearing in my paintings illustrates the state of mind when you cannot distinguish between you and the other, that feeling of awareness for what surrounds you. Chinese philosopher Zhang Zhou wrote about the Zhuangzi butterfly in one of his books, “Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.”
