Great Soul
2014
Kuala Lumpur Biennale | Vargas Museum, Manila | Aceh Tsunami Museum, Indonesia | Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong
Great Soul is a sculpture created in 2014 as part of the Field Trip Project curated by Daisuke Takeya.
having travelled the world ever since, it has been exhibited in the Kuala Lumpur Biennale, the Vargas Museum in Manila, the Aceh Tsunami Museum in Indonesia and Oil street art space in Hong Kong
Great Soul (2014) is a travelling sculpture created within a randoseru (a traditional Japanese children's backpack). It has travelled to exhibitions in Hong Kong, Manila, Aceh, Jakarta, Singapore and Tokyo. As part of the travelling process, it is worn by local individuals who journey with it to its next exhibited location.
The art of Kintsugi/ Kintsukuroi.
Great Soul responds to the trauma of environmental and social disaster in the areas affected by the 2011 earthquake in Japan. The artwork is inspired by Japanese folk tales, and the art of Kintsugi (金継ぎ, きんつぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い, きんつくろい, "golden repair"). This is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Within the randoseru, is a mirrored interior. Upon this mirror sits a half-dome of fragmented text, so that this divided dome appears to become a complete sphere. Upon the curved surface 100 pins are inserted, so that they radiate outwards. On the head of each pin sits a disk of paper, each paper circle is hand-cut from a Japanese photo print of the earth as seen from space. This results in a fragmented earth, hovering within.
Great Soul has been exhibited at the Vargas Museum in the Philippines, the Aceh Tsunami Museum in Indonesia, Oil Art Space in Hong Kong, and exhibitions in Jakarta, Singapore and Tokyo.
