When we endlessly ruminate over distant times,
we miss extraordinary things in the present
moment. These extraordinary things are, in actual
fact, all we have: the here and now.
Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (2020)
Aya Higuchi’s paintings (b. 1988, Tokyo) are serene, intimate moments frozen on canvas—depictions of simple pleasures such as a glazed doughnut on a plate or a morning walk bathed in misty sunlight. These quiet, contemplative images offer a pause from the overstimulation of daily life, where bright screens and competing images dominate. Higuchi’s works convey a sense of memory or dream through their visible brushstrokes, suggesting an ephemeral, misty view of the world. Her art evokes the Danish concept of hygge, or the art of creating cozy, intimate environments, and aligns with Katherine May’s Wintering, which celebrates the restorative, slower moments of life. Much like the adaptation of flora and fauna to the winter season—a key theme in May’s writing—Higuchi’s paintings offer a visual meditation on the power of nature to heal and ground us.
In works like In the Mountain Strong Wind, Higuchi captures the quiet beauty of the natural world, urging us to embrace stillness and solitude as radical acts of self-care. The simple, often solitary subjects in her paintings suggest a contented aloneness, not of absence but of comfort. This quiet solitude resonates with Olivia Laing’s notion of aloneness in The Lonely City, which emphasizes that feeling alone doesn’t equate to failure, but is simply a part of being human.
All images via Union Pacific London, 17 Goulston Street, London, E1 7TP
The exhibition runs to December 14
