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​92-year-old Japanese Australian ceramic artist Hiroe Swen AM has only one wish: to keep making art until her final breath. Small in stature but strong in spirit, she is known for her resilience, her perfectionism and a wicked sense of humour that cuts through hardship.

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Filmmaker Mika Nishimura first filmed Hiroe 32 years ago in Queanbeyan, NSW, captivated by one of postwar Japan’s first women ceramicists. Their bond deepened over the decades through their shared Kyoto heritage and lives in Australia.

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As Hiroe grapples with her husband's death and her own physical decline in Queanbeyan, Mika makes a return visit to Kyoto, where a Zen monk’s teachings on the “mysterious power of the natural mind” provide them both with profound insights and ways to move forward.  

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When her hands can no longer shape clay, Hiroe makes a bold choice: she leaves Australia to rebuild her life in Japan – not to retreat, but to keep creating and bridging cultures across generations. 

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The film traces her life from a childhood shaped by war, through an early career in postwar Japan, marriage and emigration, to the evolution of her artistic practice and deep roots in Australia.  Alongside this life history, we follow her present-day journey through loss and grief towards transcendence, artistic renewal, and an eventual return to her homeland.  

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Hiroe, the Monk and Me is a celebration of resilience, creativity, and the transformative power of art and the natural mind.​​