Notes

 

―Atsuya Tominaga

Tominaga has coined the term “ninguen” for the shapes he carves in his quest for the voice of the stone. That term alludes simultaneously to the Japanese word for “people” and to the Portuguese word for “nobody.” “The more I seek the human element,” Tominaga suggests, “the more distant the stone becomes.” That paradox characterizes the sculptor’s assuiduous efforts to capture the sound of the stonebound voice.