Term: August ’23 – January ’24
“Using discarded clothing as the primary material, I try to create something that traverses three-dimensional modellings, such as stuffed animals, dolls, and sculptures. The results are the imaginary creatures called
“Mokemokemono” and installations using these creatures. “Mokemokemono” are imaginary creatures created by making animal and human body parts out of discarded clothing and joining them together. The word “Mokemokemono” was created from the Japanese words “Mononoke”(fairy) and “Kemono”(beast).
They are like our alter egos, constantly seeking answers to the uncertainty of their existence, including their origins, their relationships with others, and the environment surrounding them. Although they borrow the shapes of animals for their figures, their gestures and appearances have a somewhat human presence.
I believe that we can find ourselves through them.
I believe that discarded clothing used in the artwork is an existence that shares the daily life of the person who wears it and accumulates all kinds of events and memories with them. At the same time, it is a metaphor for the dead. The process of reincarnating such clothing through the time-consuming and labour-intensive process of “hand-sewing” is an act
of ritual or prayer.
The works created in this way are like messengers that experience both life and death and sometimes they are free to come and go between the two, telling us what they are like.
Who are these “Mokemokemono” that I have been continuously creating? By confronting this question while making them, I am able to explore who we ourselves are on a daily basis.”
