Text for"colony"(Oct.,1997), text/Toshihiro Sakuma
When I watch ants and bees at their nests, they make me wonder why they all work so hard for their nests. What gives them the energy to 'stick' together to their nests when they could endanger their own lives while working and could easily be 'replaced' with new ants and bees that are born one after the other?
Since the beginning of the modern age, 'individuals' have the tendency to feel ashamed to accept the fact that we cannot exist without 'sticking' together, and also the fact that our existence could be 'replaced' by others. However, when we experience the death of a member of our family or that of a friend, we realize from our behavior, and through the process of overcoming such deaths, that we have an innate nature to 'stick' together and that we are also 'replaceable', similar to ants and bees. I realized this from my experience, otherwise not perceptible when looked at from the viewpoint of the modern 'individual'. I also felt relieved to know that we 'stick' together and that we are 'replaceable' because these erase opposing factors, such as 'self and others' and 'life and death'.
The objective of the ongoing series of works entitled "healing", is to consider 'the site' of 'sticking' together and being 'replaced' from the viewpoint of a home in connection to a family. The style I have taken to create this series was based on my personal life, so I could create my work from the viewpoint of my own daily life. However, in order to enrich the process of my work, I have broadened my view to some extent in my new works. |