Wood from Katsurao Village
Venue: Katsurao AIR
2023
Figurines gather in our homes from nowhere. Some you bought because you liked them, and some may be souvenirs from friends and family. When TV sets were thicker, such figurines used to line up above the TV set. Even today, there are still places where figurines can be found in the cracks and crevices of the home, such as the entryway, on top of the piano, and the windowsill. These figurines with eyes do not make eye contact with us, nor do they speak to us. They simply stand in the space where we live and gaze at the time that passes in our homes as if they are looking somewhere far away. This is an exploration of the mystery of why people accept figurines in their living space. It is a consciousness of wanting to “decorate” and “liven up” the time of our lives. I love each one of the figurines, thinking that they are important items that make us feel “at home,” even though they are sometimes random and funny fragments of everyday scenery. During my stay in Katsurao Village, I came across a wide variety of figurines at the homes I visited. Whether we know how they came to be in the house or we do not know why they are there, they are equally integrated into the daily life of the house and become a part of the scenery of the house. Most of the figurines we encountered in Katsurao Village came to the village after the evacuation of the entire village was lifted in 2016, and they are now a part of the life in the village they have returned to. Several of the homes we visited had handmade figurines. They were made during the evacuation of the entire village and during the self-restraint from going out during COVID-19. How to use the free time that will last forever was something that many people around the world experienced in 2020. In Katsurao Village, where “working” and “living” naturally coexist, the idea of making something with one’s hands is fundamental. I was able to experience the art of figurines carefully made in Katsurao Village.
During my stay there, using the three figurines I encountered in Katsurao Village as a motif, I carved Local Katsurao Woods to observe their substance in detail. Through the act of carving wood, I experienced the same creativity and time spent using my hands, from the time spent tending to the vegetables and plants to the time spent creating the handmade figurines, and through the act of copying them.
どこからともなく家に集まる置物たち。自分で気に入って買ったもの、もしくは友人や家族からのお土産物もあるかもしれない。テレビが分厚かったころ、テレビの上にはそんな置物たちが並んでいた。今でも、玄関やピアノの上、窓辺など、家という空間の隙間にはまだまだ置物が登場で場所は存在するきる。瞳をもつ置物たちは、生活する私たちと目を合わせるでもなく、何かを語りかけることもない。ただ、私たちが暮らす空間に佇み、どこか遠くを眺めるように家の中に流れる時間を見つめている。人はなぜ生活空間に置物を受け入れるのかという謎についての探求。それは生活という時間を「飾る」「賑やか」にしたいという意識。ときに無秩序でおかしみを含んだ日常風景の一片が、何か「家に居る」ということを感じさせる重要なアイテムになっているのではと考えると、置物たち一つ一つを愛おしく思う。葛尾村滞在中に訪れたお宅でもさまざまな置物たちに出会った。家にやってきた経緯がわかるものも何故あるのかわからないものも、等しく日常生活に溶け込みその家の風景になっている。葛尾村で出会った置物のほとんどが2016年の全村避難解除後にやってきたもので、帰ってきた村での生活を彩っている。訪ねた複数のお宅には手作りの置物があった。それらは全村避難中やCOVID-19での外出自粛中に作ったもの。いつまでも続く空いている時間をどのように使うか、2020年に世界中の多く人が経験したことだった。「働くこと」と「暮らし」が自然に共存している葛尾村での時間の中で、手を動かし何かを作るという発想になるのは根源的であるのだろう。私は葛尾村で丁寧に作られた置物というアートに触れることができた。滞在中に葛尾村で出会った３つの置物をモチーフに、それらの実体を詳細に観察するために葛尾の木で彫刻を制作する。野菜や植物の世話に掛けている時間や、手作りの置物を創作する時間から、木彫するという写し取る行為を通し、同じように創造力と手を使う時間を経験した。
AI SUGIURA 