This body of work is a commentary on present conditions as a country, and as an economic social structure. It represents the recent work created from Fall 3019 – Spring 2020. I am a US citizen born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
Ginkyo Chimes, Fall 2020, Bronze
The ginkyo tree fossil dates back 270 million years and has an ability to change sexes at will. This duality is a concept that recognizes the feminine and masculine aspects of all living things including humans.
Bundt Cake-The Illusion of an American Dream a form of White Supremacy., Spring 2020, Cement
This cement Bundt cake acknowledges the colonized mind set as an old iconic form of White Supremacy no longer acceptable.
Bundt Cake-The Illusion of an American Dream a form of White Supremacy., Spring 2020, Cement
This cement Bundt cake acknowledges the colonized mind set as an old iconic form of White Supremacy no longer acceptable.
Bronze Mix Plate #1: Ginkyo and Anthurium leaf, Fall 2020, Bronze
Mix plate is a common term used in Hawaii when ordering food because of the ethnic variety offered. It is a metaphor for people of color represented in the community of Hawaii for three generations.
Mix Plate #2: Ginkyo & Anthurium bell, Fall 2019, Bronze
The sound of this bell like a Buddhist ataregane (small temple bell) reminds us of our capacity to persevere -just as the ginkyo trees that survived the atomic bomb of Hiroshima. It stands for resilience, hope, peace, love, magic, timelessness, and long life.
Forest Memories, Fall 2020, Bronze
Live wood slabs transformed into bronze, they resonate like gongs; a symbol of the majestic forests threatened during this Anthropocene epoch.
Thesis statement:
The artworks are an analysis of racial and gender issues that have been distilled over recent years and emerged afresh during this heightened pandemic crisis of the epoch Anthropocene. Seen through the lens of a fourth generation American of Japanese ancestry, her great grandparents immigrated to Hawaii in the 1800’s living in a multi-ethnic community for three generations integrating the ohana spirit of extended family. Her life as an artist inherently weaves these cultural practices as migrants.
The bronze art pieces shown in this thesis are visual art forms as well as sound instruments.
Artist Bio:
Her current work is highly experimental. It focuses on sculptural objects and sound pieces developed from materials of wood, bronze, copper, and concrete. The need to find grounding led to contemplative themes about time duration and dream state. The basis for these works come from the writings and research of her mother’s stories, analyzing social behaviors which have caused negative social norms, intergenerational trauma, color and gender politics, capitalism, and the anthropocene. Her ongoing work for the last 12 years are theatrical productions. In particular as an American of Japanese ancestry she probes into the feminine psyche living in a patriarchal society through the lens of Japanese literature incorporating video, music, and dance forms.