We often imagine giving as subtraction, as erosion of self, silence as weakness. But kenosis is life-giving and as powerful as presence: the pouring out that makes possible the flourishing of the other. The space we relinquish is not abandoned; it is offered. It becomes a form of hospitality.
– Makoto Fujimura
The question before us is not only: “How do I do my work well?”, but also: “What, exactly, has been entrusted to me to care for?” That is where Culture Care begins.
– Makoto Fujimura
“The act of making in the Advent season is itself waiting for the apocalypse — not the end of the world, but its unveiling.”
– Makoto Fujimura
Practicing Resurrection
“We are called into Culture Care, this act of mending the fractured soil of culture, so that beauty and mercy might grow again. And this mending, this gentle insistence on tending rather than consuming, is itself a form of transfiguration. Where there was only shadow, we can plant seeds of light in hope. To speak of Hiroshima and Nagasaki today is not to rehearse guilt or assign blame; it is to name the wound so that it might become a womb.”
- Makoto Fujimura
“Art is not found in flashy fame or selfish ambition measured in human clocks. Instead, we must realize — and honor — that there are particular seasons. It is the gentle cultivation of spaces and community where beauty can flourish. It is the willingness to wait, to be attentive, to tend.”
– Makoto Fujimura
“As artists, as makers, as cultivators of beauty, we are entrusted with the work of patient tending. The soil of our time feels eroded by anxiety and speed, but even so — perhaps especially so — our calling is to plant, to listen, to watch for signs of the invisible becoming visible.”
- Makoto Fujimura
“In this, we see the long arc of our culture care vision: that art, when faithful to the soul and attentive to the world, becomes not a mirror but a common table. A place where we gather, break silence, and become aware again of what is sacred.”
- Makoto Fujimura
