Artist Coco Sato folds a larger-than-life, giant origami rabbit

The performance, inspired by the ancient Japanese legend The Moon Rabbit of Autumn, in which a rabbit lives on the moon pounding kneading and shaping the rice for celebratory mochi rice cakes to honour the year’s abundant crop, provides a unique visual learning experience bringing people of different generations together.

Coco takes a large blank square sheet of paper and lays it flat. Through meditative, calming, precise and repetitive movements the folding takes form, the animal gradually emerges and is brought to life. When asked about the performance, Sato says: "It's about looking at the detail of our immediate surroundings with eyes full of intrigue. The appearance is one of spontaneity, effortlessness and simplicity – cleverly disguising the complexity and effort involved in the work. This is the essence of Japanese art and of Zen philosophy."

Coco’s piece highlights the power of images without words, eliminating age, race, nationality, language, faith, gender or class. Her performance subtly and elegantly challenges stereotypes and questions our understanding of paper as a medium and of communication and image-making in a global society. Watch Coco in action below, or you can watch her tutorial.

All images courtesy of Coco Sato