"After studying French culture at university in Japan, and after a work experience in a Japanese company in the industrial field, Yukiko Noritake decided to follow her heart's path and engage in an artistic training, especially illustration, which allows her to express her personal universe. Graduating from the École de Condé Paris in 2018, she started her career as a young illustrator.
Interested in art and contemporary culture, her illustrations are inspired by her research in this field.
The delicate, poetic and elegant work with a particular attention to the finish comes not only from her Japanese origin, 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 girl is there to welcome them, a symbol of the spirit of nature.
The first brother settles down little by little, he cuts some trees to build a hut, he catches some fish. The second brother has big plans. He builds a huge villa, he invites all his friends to join him, he sees in the resources around him the means to get rich.
He does not even notice that the young girl who was with him at the beginning has run away... Little by little, the two forests evolve. One remains as it was at 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... "