Celebration of the Millennium

Created at the turn of the millennium, this installation combines hand-printed [washi](/glossary/washi) elements with additional materials in a configuration designed to mark the transition into the 2000s. The mixed-media approach is consistent with Imada's broader practice, in which mokuhanga prints serve as one component within larger spatial assemblages incorporating fabric, light, and architectural intervention. The millennium subject invited reflection on time, continuity, and renewal—themes with deep roots in Japanese aesthetic tradition, where seasonal and cyclical imagery has long been central to woodblock printing. The 2000 piece reflects Imada's position as a London-based artist working across cultures, marking a Western calendrical event through methods drawn from a Japanese craft tradition. As one of several site-responsive works Imada produced around the millennium, Celebration sits within a phase of her practice characterized by commissions from British cultural institutions and the development of larger installation formats. The work draws on the layering logic of woodblock printing—multiple impressions building toward a final image—as a structural principle for spatial composition.