Downtown Monkey

Wichita Underground

In response to Sara's Visit to the casino

A Visit to the New Casino in Mulvane

Driving Home 2084

Hisakatano

Hisakatano

Mixed Media Installation

by Chiyoko Myose

II

Artist Statement

My work expresses my personal feelings and experiences as a sojourner and my spiritual journey in search of a place to fully call home.  As a sojourner, I have a physical place where I live, but simultaneously, my mind goes to the places where I used to live.  This experience makes me explore various aspects of a sojourner’s life such as place, memory, imagining, cultural displacement, and spiritual journey.

Right now, it is the season of the cherry blossom in my original country of Japan.  I imagine they are blooming beautifully now, as always.  At the same time, I am concerned that the land and the people who are living there have been going through mourning and struggles after the earthquake and tsunami disaster and the nuclear accident from a year ago.

The image of this particular installation art piece was inspired by my memory of viewing the cherry blossoms and a shoji window, a Japanese paper sliding window.  The petals fall off and form other flowers in another place.  Together with the light, shadow, mirrors, and reflection of the mirrors, I expressed my thoughts and prayers for my original country and the people there.

The title of this piece, ‘Hisakatano’ is from a waka, a short poem, by Kino Tomonori from the 9^th century.  The word Hisakatano itself does not have a meaning, but it is a word that goes with the word ‘the light’.  The poem goes like this:

Hisakatano hikarinodokeki harunohini

Shizukokoronaku hananochiruramu

ひさかたの　光のどけき　春の日に

しづ心なく　花の散るらむ

It translates to:

On such a light tranquil spring day,

Why do the cherry blossoms fall like restless thoughts?

Images with different light settings

See some more images here.  http://chiyokomyose.com/section/298717_Hisakatano_Installation_3.html

Pills and Wine in Moma's Stomach

Pills and Wine in Moma’s Stomach

Sara Earle

This video deals with my mom’s tendencies to overdose on drugs and how her addiction has killed her over time. This video portrays pills and wine going into my mother’s stomach and her heartbeat throughout time, which slows down until it finally ceases(demonstrating her demise). The video switches back and forth between the pills and my mom throughout time as she is getting older.

Pill Cocktail

Rabbit's Denial

 

Statement

This is a transcendent piece.  I struggled mightily with the problem solving.  In the end I chose the  simplest solution and was happy with it.  Normally, I come up with general ideas and leave plenty of room for improvisation and growth.  This was the first time I had the pressure of artmaking for a specific show.  I probably could have done with less indeterminacy and more planning in advance.  Still, as stated, I'm happy with the result.  As for the piece itself, I had general ideas there too.  At various times in the planning process, I wanted crossing through the portal to bring a specific change, a specific feeling, a subtle non-determined change, or be purely aesthetic.  Because of the limitations of reality and technology, I had to settle on an implied change.  This kind of ambiguity worked, and I'm pleased that the viewer is allowed to fill in the details of the experience.  As for my intentions, I believe in the idea that our thinking and feelings affect and change matter.  So my working with the materials of the piece imbued meaning directly into them, and more specifically, my own meanings.  These are felt although not directly apprehended by viewers.  I realize this kind of meaning isn't approved of or understood by academia, but so much the better.