Beyond Time – Heritage –

The fundamental motivation behind my creative practice lies in death.
The deaths I have encountered—those of family, friends, and even deaths seen through television or the internet—exist within me as fear.
To confront that fear and to continue feeling alive, I have no choice but to create.

Clay endures for ten thousand years.
It is a material that transcends human death and time.
By transforming the essence of humanity—memory—into form, I present traces of life to the world, leaving them for the distant future.
I believe that this act itself can become a form of salvation, for myself and for someone else.

For This Exhibition

I am currently renovating my wife’s family home into a two-generation residence.
The construction is almost complete, and we are about to move in.
Originally, we were supposed to live together with my wife’s parents in the renewed house, but last summer, my father-in-law passed away from cancer.
Even as he aimed for recovery, he gradually moved toward death.
All I could do was to treat him as I always did.
As an artist, I wondered if there was something only I could do for him—but in the end, there was nothing I could.
Now, as we pack and prepare for the move, every object evokes memories of him.

Both his family and I must continue living with all our strength.
What I can do now is to listen to the memories of my father-in-law from my family, give form to the traces of his life, and preserve them in this world for as long as possible.
That is the purpose of the Heritage series.

Furthermore, I use discarded furniture—items that were once part of his daily life—as display fixtures, letting the works and everyday life intersect.
Through this act, I hope these works will serve as a key to reawaken the precious memories buried within our ordinary days.
That is the essence of the ReCollection series.