April marks the Thai New Year.

As a turning point in the year, people ritually cleanse the past through water and step forward into a new passage of time.

This season is both a celebration and a quiet opportunity to reflect on one’s own way of being.

“New Beginning” is an exhibition held in alignment with this moment.

Artists from Japan and Thailand, each shaped by different cultural backgrounds, present their respective expressions of what it means to begin again—sensations they have confronted while living through the uncertainty of the post-pandemic era.

Here, “New Beginning” does not refer to a dramatic improvement of circumstances, nor to the arrival of clear answers about the future.

Rather, it asks: within situations that cannot be changed, what kind of awareness can we choose to hold?

It is this internal shift—the reorientation of one’s starting point—that defines the “beginning” explored in this exhibition.

At the core of the exhibition is Yuta Okuda’s With Gratitude series, created amid the social tension and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the foundations of everyday life were shaken and what had once been taken for granted—actions, relationships—suddenly disappeared, the artist began to turn his attention more sharply toward changes in his own emotions and behavior.

Even under prolonged anxiety and restriction, by consciously directing gratitude toward “what is already possible in this moment,” one’s inner stance can gently shift, and that shift can ripple outward into actions and outcomes.

This series can be understood as an attempt to visualize such an inner process.

During the same period, Okuda also faced a fundamental question: What should an artist paint now?

Rather than directly depicting social events, he came to believe that making the very “state of awareness” that sustained him during a time of confusion into the subject of his work could itself become a form of contemporaneity.

This conviction led to the creation of the series.

The floral motifs that appear throughout the works have, since childhood, symbolized a way of conveying gratitude and emotion to others.

Richly colored flowers function not as vehicles for explanation or emotional imposition, but as devices that offer viewers a quiet openness—a sensory affirmation that leaves room to breathe.

Resonating with Okuda’s perspective, works by Maho Takahashi and two Thai artists join the exhibition, together shaping the space.

Through differing viewpoints and sensibilities, each artist layers their own response to the question: What does it mean to begin?

Held at the turning point of the Thai New Year, this exhibition does not urge viewers to force change upon themselves.

If, upon leaving the space, each visitor finds within themselves a small margin—an openness to gently shift their gaze—and if their heart feels even slightly lighter, quietly oriented toward what lies ahead,

then “New Beginning” can be said to have fulfilled its role.