The work takes as its motif a large illuminated figure encountered at the Nagasaki Lantern Festival during repeated visits to the city, which began through a university project concerned with passing on the experiences of atomic-bomb survivors. Testimonies, archival materials and remains from the bombing, and the vivid festivities of present-day Nagasaki are connected to the same city, yet remain as distinct images.
I repeat and layer the image of a qilin, shifting its contours and allowing it to change through distortions resembling repeated reproduction. Rather than deciding the ground colour in advance, I select from colours and overlaps that emerge during the process. The different experiences are not resolved into a single account, but brought into painting as an image held through recognition and memory.
Lantern (Qilin), 2025Effect pigments and acrylic on canvas, 50 × 65.2 cm
The work takes as its motif a large illuminated figure encountered at the Nagasaki Lantern Festival during repeated visits to the city, which began through a university project concerned with passing on the experiences of atomic-bomb survivors. Testimonies, archival materials and remains from the bombing, and the vivid festivities of present-day Nagasaki are connected to the same city, yet remain as distinct images.
I repeat and layer the image of a qilin, shifting its contours and allowing it to change through distortions resembling repeated reproduction. Rather than deciding the ground colour in advance, I select from colours and overlaps that emerge during the process. The different experiences are not resolved into a single account, but brought into painting as an image held through recognition and memory.