Life Is Art Is Motherhood Is Art Kyoto Closing Reception & Artist Talk
Please join us for a closing reception and conversation with several of the Life Is Art Is Motherhood Is Art exhibition’s artists from 3 – 5 pm on May 10, 2026, at Gallery Maronie’s 4th-floor gallery. Light refreshments will be served, and the talk will be held from 3:30 – 4:30 pm.
Exhibition artists Daniela Kostova and Satomi Shirai and curator Christopher Pelham will discuss the exhibition’s core themes with moderator Sae Shimai-Cardonnel, director of MOMENT Contemporary Art Center and former co-director of KG+. Reframing “motherhood” as a lived threshold—emerging between the private and the public, child-rearing and self-care, the body and the environment—the conversation will consider how parenting can be understood as a creative path. Through their respective practices, the speakers will discuss how child-rearing connects to ecology, current social realities, and the collective consciousness of their local contexts; what kinds of responsibility can be assumed as mothers; and how the intimacies of family life are intertwined with the wider world. The talk will be conducted in English with consecutive interpretation into Japanese by Miho Tsujii.
You can learn more about the exhibition itself here.
About Moderator Sae Shimai-Cardonnel カルドネル 島井 佐枝
Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1970, Sae Shimai-Cardonnel is an art producer engaged in the fields of education, international culture, and the arts.
She graduated from the Department of Fine Arts (Japanese Painting major), Faculty of Education at Kyoto University of Education. After beginning her career as an art teacher and Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist, she expanded into diverse roles, including film directing, international school management, cultural event production, and work with contemporary art galleries and official French cultural institutions.
In 2018, she founded MUZ ART PRODUCE, through which she develops and manages a wide range of cultural and artistic projects.
From 2008 to 2023, she served as a board member of Lycée Français International de Kyoto, contributing to the management of the international school.
She has been deeply involved in Kyoto’s international art scene, serving as a founding executive committee member of KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival since 2012, and as co-director of KG+ until 2020. From 2019 to 2025, she produced Nuit Blanche Kyoto, a major contemporary art event.
Since 2020, she has launched and directed independent projects including ARTAOTA, FOTOZOFIO, and Red Line. In addition, she has co-produced numerous cultural initiatives such as the Kyoto Writers Residency and the Japan-France theater project MIMOZA WAYS, as well as commissioned cultural programs for local governments.
In 2024, she was appointed as a commissioned researcher in the Regional and Cultural Affairs Division of the Mori Memorial Foundation for Manufacturing Technology. In 2025, in collaboration with the same foundation, she established MOMENT Contemporary Art Center, where she serves as Director.
From April 2026, she will serve as a Visiting Professor at the Center for Cultural and Arts Research, Teikyo Junior College.