Sojourning
Oil on canvas
Click the thumbnail images for the larger images.
From my experiences of living in a foreign country, I identify myself as a sojourner, a new person in a space. As a sojourner, I have a longing for a place to fully call home where I can find a sure foundation beyond differences in places and various values.
For this particular body of work, I am expressing this longing with three layers that represent different facets of the reality of my life. For the first layer, the far background, I paint the simplified landscape with rolling hills. The wide-open landscape which is typical in Kansas is very different from Japan and appeals to me greatly. However, this landscape also suggests troubling and confusing personal questions. Where am I going from this point in time? Do I fully have a place in this vast land of America, both now and in the future? These questions remind me that I am like a sojourner, a person who doesn't fully identify with this land very well. This background landscape represents my current place or current environment.
The second layer with the fluid lines has two meanings. One is my subjective images of the place where I used to live. The image of this place is abstracted, modified, and deconstructed in my mind. I depict this reality just like an act of crocheting laces. In the Japanese language, the word ‘crocheting’ can also be used to mean ‘editing things’. I am editing my subjective images of this place in my past by gathering memories and today's impressions of this place in the form of laces. This layer also represents, as a second meaning, various values that I have from my past.
The third layer with the painterly geometric shapes expresses my
longing for a place to fully call home with sure ‘foundation’ beyond the differences in places and various values.
My work is personal, but I believe many people are sojourners in one way or another. My hope is that my paintings will relate to the people who are in a similar situation and they will see their own beautiful journey in the images.