Mariko Mori's Expansive Imagination

"Human life itself is very rooted in nature. When I look around the world, I realize that it is essential to remember this."
— Mariko Mori

Mariko Mori is a Japanese-born artist renowned for her monumental sculptures that interact with their natural surroundings.

She is one of four creative advocates brought together by Levi's and Intel's collaboration "Friends of MOCA" to raise awareness and support for The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles' educational programs. Mori, along with artist Xu Bing, musician Santigold, and actor/director Gael García Bernal have designed limited-edition T-shirts that will be sold at select Levi's stores worldwide.

Mariko's work is inspired by nature but also enabled by technology, allowing her to research locations, design scultpures, and create models. Mori's recent large sculptures include "Tom Na H-iu" (2006) and "Plant Opal" (2009), both of which contain elements that interact with their natural environments. Mori's ongoing project is "Primal Rhythm," a monumental permanent installation, which has a strong tie to the landscape of Seven Light Bay of Miyako Island in Okinawa (Japan). Mori's current interest is centered on a world in which human beings are one with nature, where the rhythm of humanity moves in concert with that of the natural environment. Her current projects aim to spark this reminder in our consciousness and to celebrate the existing balance in nature. This idea is reflected through themes of life, death, rebirth, and the universe.

Her T-shirt design, titled "White Hole" and described by the artist as the light of creative energy, can be found in the select Levi's stores. Sales of the "Friends of MOCA" T-shirts help support creative learning at MOCA's arts education programs.