YOKOTA TOKYO is pleased to present Susan Hefuna – LISTEN TO, the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.
The exhibition features recent works composed of light and transparent materials such as fabric and glass interwoven with “words,” along with photographic works that extend her multifaceted, cross-media practice.

LISTEN TO —

Hefuna’s works invite us to attune our senses to voices that usually remain unnoticed in everyday life.
Sheets of translucent paper are sewn together with threads; numbers of dot-shape white fabric on the tapestry made of black Egyptian cotton form intricate networks. These structures, at once delicate and strong, sometimes take the form of garments or bags that rest close to the body, gently merging with daily life.
This multilayered structure, grounded in Hefuna’s experience of growing up between the different cultural contexts of Egypt and Germany, symbolically reflects the diversity of the societies and cultures to which we all belong.

“Air” “Water” “Sun”
and “time” “truth” “silence”

The “unmediated words” like above — address us with the force of a manifesto, yet they do not convey direct meanings. English and Arabic words, or characters resembling symbols, are sewn into layers of fabric, where dots and lines overlap and breathe as if they are alive. In her glass works, engraved words cast shifting shadows that seem to speak quietly in light.
Like poems or mantras, or akin to the Zen Buddhist notion of “furyūmonji” [不立文字]—an attitude that seeks to grasp the world beyond language—these works reach beyond meaning and emotion, gently touching a state of being.
Hefuna’s practice contemplates the “in-between” of cultures and societies, visualizing the subtle exchanges between people and the world. At the same time, her works function as instruments that awaken our senses through experience itself.

LISTEN TO—to listen—is not merely the act of hearing sound.
It is an attitude of awareness, a way of reconnecting the self with the world, and of perceiving the voices of others, of nature, and those within ourselves.
To “listen,” in this sense, is sometimes equivalent to hearing the inaudible. In silence, we begin to notice sounds previously unheard and be attentive.
Through Hefuna’s works—quiet yet vibrant with color, elegance, and life—may we listen to the voices that dwell within us.