Portfolio > The Black Mirror (series) 2019-2023

Mirrors carry a quiet kind of magic—they reflect the present while holding traces of the past and intimations of the future. In Japan, older geisha were known to favor black lacquer (urushi) mirrors, whose darkened surfaces softened the visibility of age. Maruyama draws on this tradition, using black lacquer not only for its visual depth but for its conceptual resonance. Here, the surface operates as both mirror and void—at once reflective and absorbing—suggesting layered states of memory and consciousness.