My old photo piece is part in a group
art show.
Borderless: In Perspective, LiTE-HAUS Galerie+ Projecraum, Berlin, Germany
This photograph is from the very first art
project “Order Made Family” that I hold in 1995.
Here is a description about the photo.
Nikki’s Family: Order Made Family, Peekaboo art project
Photograph
1995
Due to my questions that many Japanese people
still persist an idea of patriarchal stereotype family, I held Order
Made Family, a participatory public art project, on the street in Tokyo.
The project asked passersby to define the word family. Would it
involve living together, or being related to each other by blood, financial
ties, or emotional bonds? Each participant chose from a list of possible individuals of who would embody their
ideal family picture. These individuals neither had to be parallel to their
actual family make-up, nor did the artwork have to visually match the label or
identity of that family member. Then they had to pick Peekaboo-sculptures to
present each of the individuals they had selected.
Now, numbering over 100, these life-sized
Peekaboo-sculptures include various ages, races, and nationalities. The Peekaboo-sculpture
selected didn’t have to reflect the actual age, sex, race, or nationality, or
even animated creature state of that family member who, in turn, already may
not mirror the participant’s actual family make-up. After each
Peekaboo-sculpture had been picked, it was labeled to identify who that
sculpture represents in the family. I asked other passersby to help sticking
their faces through the Peekaboo-sculptures to take their virtual family
pictures. Commemorative
photographs that match the
numbers of participants were taken
with instant camera, and the photograph was given to each participant as a souvenir.
Resulting family portraits included members
who were multinational, same-sex, cohabitating friends, and even aliens in
addition to more traditional combinations, all of were borderless and explored
modern interpretations of the definition of family.
This Nikki’s
family photograph is one from about 800 family portraits
that taken at Order Made Family during 1994-2000 in Harajuku,
Shinjuku, and Kouenji in Tokyo, Japan.
