Mari-Ruth Oda is a Japanese artist living and working in North Wales. She was born in Papua New Guinea and lived in Bangkok, Tokyo, Belgrade and New York before moving to the UK. Mari-Ruth Oda found her cared more deeply about what the work conveyed than the materials themselves, so the shapes became her focus. Her serene, emotive sculptures reflect her fascination with fluid lines and natural forms.

Oda always seeks to imbue her sculptures with peaceful, positive energy. She does not create narratives around her work, but hopes it resonates with people on an intuitive level. “I’d like people to respond to my work as they would to a pebble on a beach,” she says, “as something they are inexplicitly drawn to.”

In her work Mari-Ruth Oda explores the intricate matrix of repetition that appears throughout the natural world, citing nature’s design to unveil it’s organic beauty and serenity. The shape left is something ambiguous that could be interpreted in many ways. It is often a combination of natural forms that are neither one thing nor another, with added intentions and feelings that she want to convey.

"I am inspired by nature, in its various shapes and forms as well as my feelings of reverence towards it. Being of Japanese background, this may have its roots in the nature worshipping ideas of Shintoism."