Elevator talk

            Art was the only place I had completely to myself. It was my own little world where I could freely express myself. As a fourth generation American Japanese, I was always under the impression that I had to try to be the perfect daughter. There weren’t any questions to be asked, I always had a role. A place - a social obligation to my family.

            Whenever I feel sad, disappointed, or am struggling with some thing, I draw. I like using pencil, paper, graphite, pen, charcoal, paint, and photos to create multilayered works. Images are received differently than words. They also speak a language that not everyone understands. My work tends to be about human nature and issues in the world I struggle with. For example, I made a piece that acted as a commentary on the media’s portrayal of the perfect woman and man. My piece I over exaggerated being skinny, strong, and shallow. The two figures were forced to co-exist on the same plane. It was not a harmonious existence. In order to see both figures you would need to rotate the paper 180 degrees.

            My current project is about filling in the gaps of memories. People do not remember every detail from their past experiences. As time since the past event increases, the amount of information we remember and the connections between parts of the experience tend to decrease. Medium sized images will be cut into smaller pieces and altered so that when two pieces that are supposed to connect do not connect because part of the information has been removed. When the images are viewed, the viewer’s mind will want to fill in those gaps and connect the two parts of a whole, but the connection is already gone and cannot be filled perfectly with any thing short of the original.

A Parallel to How the Body is Used

How does my work relate to the body?

We all only have one body to use in our life times. Regardless of what you choose to use your body to accomplish, the fact of the matter is our physical bodies matter and are essential components to getting matters done in life. So now that it has been established that we all have bodies and our bodies are necessary, the issue is no longer if what you have is good enough or not; what matters is how you use what you have.

            To be honest, it frustrates me to come to the realization that I could have used what I have in a way that would have been more beneficial to everyone if I was not always such a diplomat when it came to making decisions. Take for example my idea of a well-done art project. At first glance the project yields an aesthetic appeal and pleasure to the viewer. However, if a viewer so chooses to attempt at looking deeper beneath the surface, they will find conflicting and darker meanings to the work in front of them. Why is this not a good aspect of diplomacy? Viewers who do not choose to look for a deeper meaning could just walk away from my work with a fabricated illusion, and will never have a clue of the under laying messages.

It is not persuasive and requires a lot of initiation from the viewer. This brings me back to my first points. My work relates to the body as a parallel to how people use their bodies. We all have bodies. We all have the opportunity to use what we have. Will you use what you have to try and see what’s beneath the surface? Or will you gladly use what you have to take the picturesque narrative I have painted before you? If you don’t want to look deeper, don’t feel bad. There are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t want to see past a beauty that is only skin deep.