Summer is in full swing here at Young V&A, and we’re spotlighting our next round of artists whose work is available to view as part of our Lost and Found Yōkai installation, which is free to visit at Young V&A until 1 September.

Lost and Found Yōkai is Young V&A’s first major creative installation, inspired by our current exhibition Japan: Myths to Manga.

The installation draws from traditions of yōkai, a class of supernatural beings and entities that abound in Japanese folklore, literature, art and popular culture, in particular, the kasa-obake or umbrella monster. These playful spooks are a type of tsukumogami, everyday objects that receive a spirit and find new life as yōkai on their 100th birthday.

For the installation, 22 contemporary artists transformed ordinary umbrellas, previously lost on London’s public transport, and generously donated by TfL’s Lost Property Office, into a joyous ‘parade’ of yōkai, a class of supernatural beings that populate Japanese folklore. The Yōkai Onomatopoeic Machine, by artist and designer Yuri Suzuki helps bring them to life with supernatural sounds from Japan.

Meet the Artists

We asked the participating artists to share snippets about their yōkai and what inspired them.

Lydia Kasumi Sherriff

Lydia Kasumi Sherriff, a paper artist and set designer based in London, drew inspiration from her young son, who suggested Sherriff created a ‘rainbow bird’ for her yōkai. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints of fantastical birds and patterned plumage and made by hand entirely from paper and card with painted detail, ‘Hiro’s Bird’ mirrors the existing polka dot pattern of the umbrella in its feathers, which ties back to the woodcut illustrations which inspired Sherriff.

‘This yōkai always dreamed of flying.’

*Rainbow Bird*, **Lydia Kasumi Sherriff**, 2024

Annie Frost Nicholson

Annie Frost Nicholson is a London-based multidisciplinary artist, whose work through a curious, colourful and considered lens, looks at what it means to be alive.

Nicholson’s vibrant yellow yōkai, ‘No two days are the same’, slowly reveals a multiplicity of spirits. With its playful colour palette, bold on one side and more subdued on the other, Nicholson ‘wanted to communicate multiple characters, facets, ways of being of the yōkai. There are many to ‘find’ within the design, depending on how you tilt the umbrella, and how it hangs.’

*No two days are the same*, **Annie Frost Nicholson**, 2024

Yuko Kondo

Yuko Kondo is an illustrator, art director and film director based in London. ‘Kaleidoscope monster’ sees Kondo draw inspiration from a recent purchase of an optical toy…

‘I recently bought a kaleidoscope. This kaleidoscope has a lens on the bottom, so when you look inside, anything you see becomes a kaleidoscopic pattern through the lens. I’ve been watching people’s faces with it, and I always think they look like crazy monsters everywhere. So, I decided to incorporate this idea into an umbrella [yōkai].’

*Kaleidoscope Monster,* **Yuko Kondo**, 2024

Hannah Lim

Artist Hannah Lim’s research and work responds to her cultural identity and experience as a person of mixed Singaporean and British heritage, engaging with the colonial connotations of the relationship between the East and the West. For her piece, 9 Spirit Yōkai, Lim looked to an existing series of her work, to breathe life into her chosen umbrella.

‘My yōkai takes inspiration from a series of my own works known as ‘Snuff Bottles’, that I have been creating over the last couple of years. Inspired by the intricate designs of traditional Chinese Snuff Bottles found in museums throughout the UK, including the V&A collection, my Snuff Bottle works are decorated with detailed clay designs often relating to spirits and mythological creatures from Chinese and Medieval bestiaries.’

‘I wanted to draw from some of the particularly animated characteristics of the bottles in my umbrella piece. In the theme of ‘umbrellas’, ‘rain’, ‘spring’ and ‘growth’, the spirit charms that hang from the umbrella are designed to resemble rain droplets and budding flowers. At the top of the umbrella we have a beady eyed fire spirit, watching over and giving life to the rest of the spirit charms.’

Damselfrau

Norwegian artist DAMSELFRAU is most well-known for their ornate mask creations, and use of found, as well as self-produced material, in their work.

‘The umbrella as an object has 8 sides, it faces all directions. It seemed natural to let it keep on communicating like that, so I gave it many faces. The see-through umbrella lets in light from above, so it only made sense to make the inside an active space and have the faces look at the wearer. But once left to their own devices, the faces could talk amongst themselves. As an action object, I wanted to give it an opportunity to have a shake and a dance, and fringes are a shaker’s best friend!’