2014

Resin (about 2,000 bodies), lacquer spray (red, yellow)

W880 D11000 H880 mm

Exhibition

2014 LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH

Nagisa Exchange Center, Tottori, Japan

My creative work mainly takes place in a coastal area in the San-in region, which is part of the Sea of Japan. That area has a history of dynamic exchange that is charged with the romantic idea of people traveling across the sea in ancient times. At the same time, when standing on the shore today, one can surely also feel to some extent the presence of real and serious problems that are coming our way from the other side of the ever so beautiful horizon.

When the news of deaths in our neighboring countries circulated in the Japanese media last winter, I happened to come across the line ”Love is stronger than death” in a magazine related to the Izumo shrine that I coincidentally picked up at a book store. This was reportedly a message that Koizumi Yakumo had concluded from ghost stories and myths. These two overlapping incidents roused in me the question what exactly “love” means in countries that are currently dominated by the image of “death.”

This exhibition features two new works that pick up on that message, which were eventually made and unveiled. One is an installation for which I lined up two differently painted types of human-shaped miniature figures – about 2,000 in total – in regular intervals, the other an interview style documentary movie that discusses the work’s meaning and message.

My works are answers that are formulated and thrown back in the process of seeking, finding and grasping things that are washed up within the constant changing of times.

                                                                                                                                             Translated by Andreas Stuhlmann

　日本海に属する山陰の海域を主な制作活動の舞台としている藤原勇輝。その海域には、海を渡った人々の古代ロマン溢れるダイナミックな交流の歴史が存在する。その一方で、今日の渚に佇む時、圧倒的に美しい水平線の向こう側からやって来る現実的で深刻な問題の存在も多少なりとも感じる事ができるだろう。

　先の冬、隣国より「死」の情報が日本国内のニュースで流れている時分、本屋で偶然手にした出雲関連の雑誌の中に、「Love is strongerthan death」という英文を目にした。小泉八雲が怪談や神話から見い出したメッセージだという。その二つの事柄が重なり合い、「死」のイメージが支配する国の中にある「愛」とは一体どんなものなのかという疑問が浮かんだ。

　本展覧会は、そのメッセージを引用して制作、発表するに至り、２点の新作で構成される。塗り分けられた２種類の人型ミニチュア約2,000体を均一に並べた立体作品。メッセージの真意を聞き出すインタビュー形式のドキュメンタリー映像作品。

　藤原の表現は、時代が変わろうとも打ち寄せてくるものを探し、見つけ、掴み取るという過程の中で具現化され、打ち返すものである。