“My painting was inspired by Kazuo Nakamura and it revolves around the Japanese phrase ‘木漏れ日 (こもれび),’ which in English is komorebi, meaning ‘sunlight filtering through the trees’. Instead of sunlight that is shining through the trees, it is moonlight. I thought to myself: why not moonlight? The nighttime is much more peaceful and quieter than the daytime. The reason why I named my artwork ‘playing with the night’ is because the white lights that are playing through the trees are spirits of light that are keeping a little girl company who lost her way and are guiding her back home where she will be safe. The reflection of the river represents the little girl understanding that disobeying her parents and going out at night even though they warned her not to is wrong. The colours that I used are Copenhagen blue, black, and white―a minimal amount of colour but it tells a story just as Kazuo Nakamura’s painting Blue Reflections does.”
— Krisetianna King (Grade 9, Encompass, Coquitlam, British Columbia)

Born in Vancouver, Kazuo Nakamura (1926–2002) was a co-founder of the revered Painters Eleven group, and one of the great Canadian artists of the twentieth century. His paintings invite deep reflection, and his unique exploration of the abstracted landscape is without parallel in Canadian art.