Kagoshima. Visual arts, Design, Holograms and Sculpture.

Kodama was born in Kagoshima Prefecture and grew up in Shizuoka Prefecture. Kagoshima is the extreme southwest of the island Kyushu of Japan. It is a subtropical area and its biological diversity greatly inspired his curiosity for art and science. She graduated in Physics from the Department of Science at Hokkaido University in 1993 and subsequently entered the Graduate School of Art and Design at Tsukuba University. After earning her Ph.D. of art from the University of Tsukuba, she has been teaching at the University of Electro-communications in Tokyo as an associate professor.

Her work is a clear example of how scientific research can enrich the expressive vocabulary of artists, thanks to the use of fluid iron. It is a liquid that becomes polarized when it is near a magnetic field. On its own, this material is similar in appearance to crude oil: it is cold, static, and inert. However, thanks to the presence of a magnet, it can quietly come to life. The structure of Kodama's sculptures is based on magnetized spirals, where the magnetism is controlled by computer. The fluid acts with emotion, sometimes calm and peaceful, other times aggressive and agitated, sometimes even violent. When the magnet is deactivated, the liquid crumbles and loses life.

Ferrofluid was originally developed as rocket fuel, and it is still used in optical work, since the micro-magnetic particles suspended in them reflect light. In this sense, the leitmotif present in Kodama's works is the color black. It is a smooth, non-stagnant black, actually even a little brown, like rusty iron, and it glows in the light. According to the artist, her work can promote meditation and reflection, in fact, it refers to forms of life, lines and organic silhouettes that remind us of the rhythm of nature.

Through her artistic production, she draws concepts from wide sources, the most important of which are expressionism, digital art and the Mono-ha movement.

The Mono-ha movement arises as a rejection of the traditional oriental image and the use and relationships that were established between objects and everyday environments, pretending to observe the world as it is. Its main objective was to reduce the role of the artist and emphasize the relationships between materials and the environment. In Kodama's work, ferrofluid presents reality with even greater precision than images due to its three-dimensional character. This aspect is also linked to expressionism, as the artist shows her intention to provoke primary emotions in the viewer and to generate dreamlike installations and spaces.