Artwork copyright Yoshi Nakagawa. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Everything Time Studio, 2024.

Kingdom Plantae, 2022

Yoshi Nakagawa
(American)

Location: Thomas Jefferson High School, Auburn

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Kingdom Plantae by Yoshi Nakagawa is a linocut print with a poem by Danielle Harrington. Nakagawa notes, “There is great beauty and simplicity in our everyday lives.”

Kingdom Plantae by Danielle Harrington

You were once expendable bodies

invisible, but now we see you

shining in sidewalk cracks

illuminating roadsides and forest floors –

corporeal beings in our palms –

our oldest caretakers

the medicine makers.

Under your grand canopies

and amongst your bright beacons

the lost and lonely find home.

This artwork is part of a curated collection by Asia Tail in April 2024 for three Federal Way Public Schools in South King County. Asia chose graphic works that are as bold and diverse as the students, by artists with ties to South Puget Sound. Images of language, people, and the natural world create a poem for this place where students live and learn. She notes, "School is a place where we can connect with new families. And families are always strongest when working together."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Federal Way Public Schools.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Yoshi Nakagawa is a Tacoma-based visual artist, specializing in printmaking since 1999. She pulled her first print at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and continued her craft in Seattle and Oaxaca, Mexico. Her art is influenced by patterns of the natural world and Japanese textiles, along with her experiences living in Oaxaca and Japan.