Monami Ohno

Monami Ohno is a Japanese contemporary artist and sculptor. She became a breakout star in Japan and rose to prominence and limelight for her innovative out-of-the box thinking by applying a paradigm shift approach as she engaged in the process of moulding old amazon cardboard boxes into sculptures. She earned the nickname "cardboard girl" for her proactive thought provoking captivating idea by deploying discarded abandoned cardboard boxes to make artwork out of them.

Career

She graduated from the Department of Characters and Crafts at the Osaka University of Arts where she received wide exposure in the field of 3D animation. She joined the Osaka University of Arts with the sole intention of joining the production team that produced the cult classic masterpiece banger of an anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion. She was inspired to become an animator just like the fellow teenagers during her early life after watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. She made a groundbreaking attempt by tactically using cardboard as a material for the first time in her lifetime when she ran out of money and hence she was forced to make a tough choice to opt for a solution in the form of cardboard for her top-motion animation homework assignment at college. Although initially felt like a tough pill to swallow as far as her academics is concerned, she made the choice but it went onto pay rich dividends as her project work was lauded by her professors mainly for her ability to mould sculptures using recyclable carboard models instead of going with animation. She used discarded cardboard, cut it up with scissors and pieced it together to create the materials for her project in order to save money and to be cost effective.

She pursued passion in articulating the importance of incorporating cardboard wherever and whenever necessary in her life with the main intention of utilising discarded cardboard boxes for her artwork. She had extensively used cardboard for over a period of ten years and has also made rapid strides in priding the significance of showcasing her artwork in public spaces and places by way of displaying them at exhibitions for public view. She also actively involved in the creation of a rapid structure in the form of a representation of Godzilla which itself is often deemed as a largely terrifying and gigantic animal of the famed Japanese film which goes under the same name. She originally used the material to create and mould what she called a "bike-like thing" for one of her college pilot projects. She later went onto master her craft by exploring and foraying into other ventures specially focusing on the popular culture oriented themes such as anime robots, warplanes and fast food.

She also revealed that how people around her were more supportive to her and encouraging her to achieve her dream and passion in an exclusive interview with Reuters. Ohno has been widely acknowledged and praised for her ability to create complex sculptures as her works have notably been displayed at several public showings across the prefectures in Japan and in across others parts of the world. Ohno has emphasized that she never uses intended preplanned exact plans to execute her artworks and that she had always had to fine tune and modify her workings as per the situations. Her artwork more often uses cardboard and other recycled materials rather than using plastics as part of her eco-friendly thought process.