Sense of Why. Wonder of Unknown.
Why do flowers wither?
Why does spring come after winter?
Why are adults different from children?
My five-year-old daughter has kept asking “why”.
I ask her back, "What do you think? "
as giving us a chance to think together
instead of trying to give her a clear answer,
and let it drift in the air.
Then, these words tend to pop up in my mind.
" There could be more things in the world that don't have answers, things that are obscure and cannot be interpreted or even judged"
This is the message that Mamiko Nakamura, aka banryoku, the Japanese artist of the "leg" pillow, wrote in her past exhibition, "The Worth of worthless things."
©︎banryoku at her previouse workshop.
Years ago, Nakamura went to a handicraft school on a southern island of Sweden to study textile. Although it was a school, it did not have a clear curriculum, nor was the purpose to sit at a desk and study.
The most important thing is to learn and create a life together with other students in an environment where there is a rich yet simple life with nature, many works of art, and inspiration among them.
The school's culture is one where freedom is valued more than skill or practical purpose, and where works created out of a burning desire to please are delighted more than anything else.
She was not assigned to make an eye pillow or a work of art with a practical purpose.
When the teacher and students saw the prototype of the “leg” eye pillow that Nakamura had made in class, they did not ask her “why” at all. Instead, they just praised her and were simply excited.
"It was because of that environment that I was able to create the work, and it taught me the beauty of "freedom" that underpins my current spirit creation. If I had gone to a different school, I would never have made this leg pillow, and I think my creativity would be completely different today. I am still so grateful that I was taught something really important without words," Nakamura recalled those old days.
The same can be said for another of my masterpieces, the "hand" bag.Why hands? There is no clear answer to that question.
“All I know is that it's fun, and I trust that feeling. I believe in the freedom of feeling fun. Because that is the solid right answer for me”
If I had to give an answer for the question, I think her comment would bethe quintessential one.
The peculiar charm of banryoku world lies in its genrelessness as well. Sometimes it is contemporary art, sometimes it is a craft, and sometimes it is practical and functional. In addition to textiles, there are paper-mâché masks, illustrations, and even ceramics, that she deals with.
Even practical objects such as clothes, bags, and vases, she pivots and skips here and there, crossing the boundaries of contemporary art, craft, and handicraft. With a bit jokes and humor, she freely stitches genres together, sometimes melting them down, establishing her own domain, and sublimating it into originality.Nature and man-made, life and art, napping and creating, cooking and garden, social issues and small talk, etc. All of these things, large and small, intertwine and balance each other, and become the cells of banryuk's creativity. It is like the holistic approach to art at the Swedish school that laid the foundation for her creation.
In that sense, frameworks and genres are unimportant to her, which is why her work is open-ended and gives viewers an "unanswerable" appeal.
Efficiency, practicality, convenience, correctness.
In a world where these things tend to be emphasized, banryoku's world has no necesarily reason, no meaning, no right answer, and it is more likely left to the person who sees and holds it to figure out or feel.
Why? are floating in our daily lives.
With something that have been left behind in this world.
With something that have unintentionally slipped from someone's hands or consciousness.
banryoku is keenly observant of these glimpses and sinks into them, drifting, looking over every corner of the world, the world that people have left behind, capturing and expressing them in her hands, and with eyes of her heart.
The funny thing is, it is only at times like this that my five-year-old daughter does not asks, "Why the legs? "Why are you putting the butt over your eyes?
She just seems look at them as they are, giggles at them, accepts them, and probably feels something invisible.
The "leg" pillow is sat by her in a circle with a tea set and dolls.
The scene is so natural and unfettered that it truly embodies the joy of expression without any clear answers,because we need "The Worth of worthless things."
On view and purchase at Soen Japanese arts and crafts popup with Lilith Rockett‘s holiday studio sale ＊
12/12 10am - 4pm at Lilith Rockett Ceramics