A solo exhibition by aaploit-represented artist Michimata Aoi, titled relief is held at the Sapporo Art Park Museum (November 15 – December 21, 2025, Gallery B). Presented alongside the group exhibition Reflections: Light from Sometime the show was free of charge and made possible with sponsorship from Melco Group, Inc., as part of its initiative to nurture and support emerging artists with ties to Hokkaido.
The following is the museum's introductory statement:
Hokkaido-based artist Michimata Aoi (b. 2000) has depicted the conflicts she feels in engaging with society and the sense of unease she encounters in everyday life through allegorical compositions featuring multiple figures arranged on staircases. This exhibition presents woodblock prints—including new works—created under the theme of "relief," exploring both the comfort of belonging to a community and the anxiety of remaining within it.
The "Kafka's Staircase" series referenced in the museum's greeting text is a central motif Michimata has pursued since her student years. Through figures ascending and descending stairs—sometimes crouching, sometimes looking back—she renders the complex emotions surrounding employment and social participation in allegorical form. In this exhibition, building on that body of work, attention was turned to the ambivalence of "relief": the simultaneous sense of security and unease that comes with belonging to a group.