While influenced by Shinto — whether consciously or not — Hachiyanagi doesn't think her preoccupation with the inadequacy of language has much to do with it. "It's about me living in between two cultures, in between two languages."

She explained that it's similar to when you think there's a certain word in your language, and when you learn a new language you expect there to be a corresponding word. "But in reality, there's not. There are certain words in English that cannot be translated to another language. It's like the blank paper I make from plant fibers. I deal with the unspeakable or inexpressible."

In her installation "Rituals of Being," there are eight works: "Benevolence," "Houses of Beings: Language," "Houses of Beings: body/spirit," "Houses of Beings: morgue," "Houses of Beings: identity," "The Golden River," "Paper Shrine" and "Threshold."

Each work involves handmade paper created by the artist, which requires the collecting of organic materials, the soaking, boiling, pulverizing, catching and layering the pulp, then drying it.

When viewers first enter the installation, they encounter an architecturally severe staircase made of wood and plastic. On opening night, Hachiyanagi, clothed in a colorless robe and sporting a shaved head, slowly and methodically climbed the stairs. At the top she stooped to retrieve a long, blank, folded sheet of paper. Standing, she let the paper fall from her hands down to the ground below. She then backed down the stairs, again in painstakingly slow movements, retrieved the paper from the floor and repeated the process for the next two hours. (Through March, viewers can watch the performance on a video screen positioned next to the stairs.)

"I shaved my head for the performance," Hachiyanagi said. "I had shoulder-length hair before, but when I tried to visualize the perception of the audience, I decided to shave it."

With long hair the artist worried the audience would think more about the female body. With a shaved head, Hachiyanagi believed she became more genderless. "You'd think more about a human being than a female actor," she said.

Before the performance, Hachiyanagi said she pondered the condition of the world. "A lot of what goes on in the world is bad, like what's happening in Iraq or at that Russian school recently. I was thinking about how each of us can give or be grateful for what we have as precious life.

"Each time the paper fell, it landed differently. It's like each day for us. We always get up in the morning and we go to work and we talk, but each day is a little bit different. And if we slow down, we can see more as we live our life."