Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life

“Culture is broken, and New York artist Makoto Fujimura wants to fix it as only an artist can. He's putting forward a framework to reconnect culture with beauty: 'culture care.' But this isn't just about artists or even art. It's ultimately about faith. 'I believe the arts and imagination are in the realm where nature is not strictly a limited-resources environment, that there is generativity embedded in creation.' he said. 'And when human beings exercise the imagination, and we act upon it with love, we create something that is so expansive that typical bottom-line thinking can't explain it.' Throughout Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for our Common Life, Fujimura fleshes out these profound ideas, making it a must-read.”

“I can't help but recognize that Fujimura's vision has substance and should be acknowledged and considered by the church as well as others who hope to mend our fractured culture. After all, Fujimura admits early on that this book is only the beginning of a much larger project, which is to pursue art and beauty as a remedy for our sick and quickly dying culture. That is why I believe this book is important for artists and non-artists alike. Whether you're a painter or a collector, a writer or a reader, we are all responsible for the casualties in the culture wars and thus must participate in the mending of the resulting divides.”

“Culture care is the imaginative effluence of being a faithful follower of Jesus in any time or place. It's hope borne into places where hope that is truly hope must be realistic, slow, disruptive, and limited. Mako's encompassing, inspiring, humble, bold vision is life-giving, because it is what life is meant to be. Culture care is needed everywhere.”

“Mako Fujimura's words, art, and life all convey an understanding that the common ground of theology and art is our image-bearing humannessand that an engagement with both our Creator and our creativity are colors that equally belong on the canvas of our culture. His life-giving and rehumanizing summons to culture care fuels the redemptive yearning within each one of us for the world that ought to be.”

“Makoto Fujimura's Culture Care is invaluable for a global business leader dealing with multiple cultures and challenging business and cultural decisions every day. I found it to be not only an inspirational reminder to seek beauty in all things, but a practical help in servant leadership.”

“The valuable lessons and insights in Culture Care are essential to reformation, renewal, hope, and subsequently the restoration of our culture and communities to wholeness. Mako captures what really matters in life: glorifying God in all aspects of our lives and our communities.”

“When I first opened up Culture Care one night in Taipei and began reading, I knew that it was an important and essential work for today's artists. As I read, the book kept opening up like a flower of revelation. It helped define for me what I have been doing for a long time: culture care. I never had a word for it before. It has also helped me see myself differently as an artist. Culture Care gives the artist dignity and purpose, something that the church and society never gave me. The church never acknowledged art as a worthy vocation with a godly purpose, and society never fully recognized me either. So that's where I've always lived and workedon the outside. But we are not alone and we are right where we belong!”

“Mako offers helpful insights not only for artists, but for all partners in culture care. His acknowledgment of the importance of addressing brokenness, creating safe spaces for sharing journeys, and truth telling reflects an appreciation of the relational and transformational power of engaging in culture care. While the reader could be overwhelmed by the pervasiveness of the challenges, Mako inspires us toward meaningful action. A wonderful contribution!”

“My friend Mako Fujimura is one of the most thoughtful, sensitive, and eloquent artists of this generation.”

“While serving with Mako Fujimura on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, I often experienced his soft-spoken words. When Mako spoke, I wanted to listen because his words brought insight and meaning. The same is true of this book. As I read Mako's words, I listen, allowing them to leave imprints of wisdom on my heart.”

“Culture Care is a beautiful and powerful work of art, and it is about much more than culture, art, beauty, and aesthetics; it is about nothing less than what it means to be human. We all have a spirit that is thirsty for culture, as do societies at large. This book serves up a powerful warning about what happens when that thirst is not quenched; given the state of the world today, I can only hope that everyone in a leadership position reads, rereads, and ponders what he or she can do to care about culture, and actively so.”

“With much compassion and courage, Makoto compels us to take our calling seriously to care for and cultivate the cultural soil in which we reside. He encourages us to view culture care as a biblical alternative against the prevalent culture of anxiety and scarcity. This is a posture every follower of Jesus should nurture to embody the gospel.”

“What kind of culture do we wish to live within, and how do we get there from here? This is the core question addressed in Culture Care, a book suffused with kindness and generosity. It is a book that goes beyond imagination to generation. It suggests and exemplifies ways of being that can help to create well-being. What is the opposite of a vicious cyclea cycle benevolent, humane, and self-potentiating? We need a term. We need it to name the effect that this wise book can have if we read it, share it, live it.”

“In his generous and inspiring work Culture Care, artist Mako Fujimura suggests that our common culture is not a territory to be captured, but a garden to be cultivated, needing the nourishment of creativity, community, connection, and the generation of beauty. It is a grace-filled call to beat swords into plowshares and take up the work of tilling our common garden.”

“For Makoto Fujimura, caring deeply for souls is a way of life. Through his magnificent paintings, profound essays, and wider leadership with organizations like the National Council on the Arts and the Brehm Center at Fuller Seminary, Fujimura quietly and consistently nurtures artists and the people who love them, both inside and outside the church. In this life-giving book, he cultivates practices that help us honor God by caring for the soul of our culture.”