“After studying French culture at university in Japan, and following work experience in a Japanese company in the industrial field, Yukiko Noritake decided to follow her heart’s path and embark on an artistic training, particularly illustration, which allows her to express her personal universe. Graduating from École de Condé Paris in 2018, she has launched her career as a young illustrator.
Interested in art and contemporary culture, her illustrations are inspired by her research in this field.
Her delicate, poetic and elegant work, with particular attention to finish, comes not only from her Japanese origins, but also from her sensitivity. For Actes Sud junior, she illustrated Voyage aux pays des odeurs and is the author and illustrator of Forêt des frères.
In the beginning, there are two brothers: one on each page. Each inherits half a forest. In each forest a mysterious maiden is there to welcome them, a symbol of the spirit of nature.
The first brother gradually settles in, cutting down a few trees to build a hut and catching a few fish. The second brother, on the other hand, has big plans. He builds a huge villa, invites all his friends to join him, and sees the resources around him as a means of enriching himself.
In the midst of his work, he doesn’t even notice that the young girl who stood by him at the beginning has run away… Little by little, the two forests evolve. One remains as it was in the beginning, alive and wild; the other is transformed, little by little, to finally become, at the end of the book, a real small town… “
