FRAGMENTATION

Uncle

2025 09 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 67cm × 1.2T My uncle was always a quiet person. Even without raising his voice, his presence made me feel at ease. The way he loved table tennis, the sincerity he showed in everything he did, these remain in my memory. The most striking scene from my childhood is of him carefully tying his children’s hair and pinning it with care until the end. It was nothing special, yet his gentle touch carried love and tenderness. As time passes, we remember impressions before faces. To me, my uncle is someone who remains with a warm smile.

Miruku at Christmas

2025 09 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 57.5cm × 50cm × 1.2T For me, living in Japan, Christmas has become a season that naturally brings to mind Miruku. In the past two years, at the request of an acquaintance, I spent some time with Miruku, a Bichon who filled the house with laughter as she busily ran about with her fluffy body. Nothing extraordinary happened. I simply shared dinner with my family, laughed as we watched Miruku, and spent unremarkable moments together. Yet, even as time passes, when I think of Christmas, the first thing that comes to mind is the atmosphere of that day and Miruku’s bright presence. It was only once or twice a year that we met, but Miruku gifted our family with a warm Christmas. So even now, when Christmas comes, the lively footsteps and innocent gaze are the first to walk back into my memory.

That Is How That Day Was

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 61.3cm × 1.2T One day, suddenly, there is a moment when you hesitate over whether to smile or remain silent. You were certainly smiling, yet a part of your heart feels somewhat heavy; even as you think you are fine, it is difficult to explain the wave of emotions that arrives. Feelings that do not settle into a single emotion linger briefly on the face. The expression, mingled with laughter and hesitation, comfort and awkwardness, gradually faded over time, and what remained were traces of emotion that brushed past the eyes and lips, rather than any precise event. Instead of restoring that memory to a single face, I divided the emotions that remained in memory into several fragments and tried to connect them again. Just as different pieces overlap and scatter within one face, so too the feelings of that day could not be described by a single emotion. A smile certainly remained at the lips, but whether it was joy, or a forced smile, is no longer clear. What happened is somewhat obscure. Only the expression of that day and the various emotions that lingered within it still remain in memory. It was that kind of day.

ROBOT

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 58cm × 1.2T From the past to the present, the existence of robots has been a special subject of imagination for humans. Robots resembling humans seemed as if they might understand emotions, and, at times, inspired the hope that they could be purer entities than humans themselves. In childhood, I would often immerse myself more deeply in the world of robots within SF animation and games than in reality. The angular, mechanically segmented forms and human-like faces left a strong impression, and over time, those images faded and transformed in memory. This work was created as I recalled those dimmed memories. The numerous fragments that compose the face signify both the structure of machines and the structure of memory. The fragments scatter and reconnect, forming a face, yet never reach a complete form. In that interval, rather than the boundary between human and machine, I sought to contemplate how memories and emotions change and shift with time.

That Night, Time Flowed On and I Stood Still

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 64cm × 50cm × 1.2T As the dawn deepened, time flowed on without end, and I stood still in that one place. I never knew that remembering you could be so quiet and so cruel. In a night when everyone slept, the longing that rang out in the silence shook my heart more vividly than any word. Your breath, your laughter — they surfaced one by one like scenery from a very old memory and then slipped away, and all that remained was me, unable to sleep, and time, which only kept flowing. Time was so unkind; and though I resented its passing, in the end I could not hold it back, and I had to pass through that night without end.

A Bear I've Seen Somewhere Before

2025 09 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 55.5cm × 50cm × 1.2T A bear I felt I had seen somewhere came to mind. I could not remember its name, nor when I first encountered it. Perhaps it was a doll I held as I fell asleep as a child, or a character that flashed past on TV. The memory was faint, mingled. As time passed, its clear form gradually faded, but the large eyes and familiar expression lingered for an oddly long time. That face was not a single memory, but an overlapping of several memories. I pieced together these pale recollections, recreating the face of a bear I must have seen before, but cannot remember exactly. Sometimes, a familiar feeling remains longer than a name.

It was such a day

2025 09 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 61cm × 50cm × 1.2T I met my friends of the same age for the first time in a while. The time spent laughing and chatting, exchanging small talk as before, passed by in an instant. I thought nothing had changed, but, suddenly catching glimpses of their faces, I sensed that time had moved on. The days spent raising children, working, and caring for family remained wordlessly on their faces. It was not because they were unhappy. Joy and worries, responsibility and love had accumulated together as each one lived a precious life. For that brief moment, I looked beyond the smiling faces, toward the personal stretches of time each one inhabited. No one had lived the same life, and yet all were living today, each in their own place. That day was one of those days.

Memories, Mixed Together

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 50cm × 1.2T

Yeppi on a Spring Day

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 50cm × 1.2T I was walking slowly along the road. Cars were passing by. It was an ordinary day, no different from any other. Beside me, an elderly woman with a bent back was walking at a gentle pace. The grandmother spoke. "Yepi, let’s go." By her side, a large bulldog with a plump back waddled along, keeping pace. The contrast between the dainty name and the heavy build brought a quiet smile and was endearing. Yepi would sometimes pause to sniff at the roadside, then, as if nothing had happened, slowly return to the grandmother’s side. And it seems that day was a spring day.

Minami

2025 05 Gold Mirror Stainless Digital UV Printing 50cm × 50cm × 1.2T I first met Minami before entering elementary school. He was a small puppy sent to our home by my eldest aunt. The name ‘Minami’ remained a mystery to me as a child. I don’t remember why he was given that name, but every time I called him, it naturally brought a smile. Now, not even a single photograph remains. Yet, in my memory, the time I spent with Minami lingers like a faint scene. Though much has faded with time, the warmth of that feeling still stays quietly in a corner of my heart.