Hayao Miyazaki, 85, Shows No Sign of Slowing Down as Son Goro Says He Is “Still Drawing New Pictures”

A media preview for the new special exhibition “Panorama Box Exhibition” was held on July 7 at Ghibli Park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture. During the press conference, Ghibli Park director Goro Miyazaki spoke about his father, 85 year old director Hayao Miyazaki, revealing that he is “still drawing new pictures” and continuing to work on new creative projects.

Goro Miyazaki brought warmth to the venue with a lighthearted remark that only a son could make, saying, “Part of me feels a little tired of it, or like I wish he would give it a rest.” He then added, “At this point, I hope he keeps drawing until the day he dies.”

“He is still drawing new pictures. The drawings are spilling out of the box, almost like a panorama box with no frame left,” Goro said, expressing admiration for his father’s undiminished creative drive.

The Panorama Box Exhibition Features 31 Works by Hayao Miyazaki

The “Panorama Box Exhibition” presents 31 panorama boxes created by Hayao Miyazaki over roughly three years, beginning during the final stages of production on the 2023 film The Boy and the Heron.

The panorama boxes are three dimensional works rooted in the paper crafts that Hayao Miyazaki loved as a child. By layering multiple illustrations inside a box, the works create a sense of depth, as if viewers are looking into a scene from a film.

The exhibition includes works based on his feature films, from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to The Boy and the Heron, as well as short films screened at the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka and Ghibli Park. It also includes pieces based on original new works.

The venue design is inspired by the “Corridor of Time” that appears in The Boy and the Heron. Walls that look like doors contain windows, and when visitors open the sliding doors and look inside, the world of each panorama box unfolds before them.

The exhibition presents a vivid world of grasses and trees swaying in the wind, whales and fish swimming through the sea, and characters that seem ready to move at any moment. The scenes are so rich that viewers may feel as if they can hear laughter, waves, and even engine sounds.

Goro Miyazaki praised the expressive power of the works, saying that the ability to seal time and space inside a closed box is the very force that gives rise to Hayao Miyazaki’s films. The windows are designed at a height suited to children’s eye level, and Goro said, “I want children to see them first.”

“Ghibli has been around for a long time, so I think there are fewer opportunities for people to encounter the older works,” he said. “If this exhibition becomes a chance for people to think, ‘I did not know this work existed,’ or ‘I want to watch it again,’ that would make us very happy.”

The “Panorama Box Exhibition” is scheduled to run from today, July 8, for the foreseeable future. The special exhibition room “Ghibli’s Special Exhibitions” has also been renewed. New displays have been added related to producer Toshio Suzuki, who helped establish Studio Ghibli alongside directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki and has brought many works to the world.

Source : ORICON NEWS