YUNA YAGI

The exhibition presents early to latest works from the artist’s career.

Marking its debut, Yagi’s latest series presents abstractions of sand dunes. Printed on acrylic and steel, the series redefines the notion of a photograph. As the light reflects through the translucent acrylic blocks of the work, the viewer’s shifting viewpoints allow the work to alter alongside the viewer. As if looking through a lens, the viewer is offered a range of sights, from one of limitation, great depth, and nothingness. Drawing attention to the relationship between light and human vision, Yagi’s works reveal the biased and constructed nature of ‘vision’.

In the face of the pandemic, Yagi traveled to the vast lands of sand dunes in search of nature. Through this, she formed a perspective through her vision and viewfinder. Manifesting this subjective ’ misalignment(s)’, these works reveal the incongruities of vision and compel viewers to reflect upon their own experiences and perceptions.

What is ‘it’ that I actually see, how is ‘it’ captured by ‘vision’ and ‘cognition’, and how can this information be both ‘biased’ yet exist intrinsically within us? Perhaps the ‘things’ one recognizes can alter with their state of mind.

As the physical process of ‘seeing’ and ‘perceiving’ undergoes continual changes in an increasingly digitalized society, these works compel us to reconsider the meaning of ‘existence’ in the realm of human experience.

Artist Statement

Occasionally, when you look at something, you might experience a sensation that goes beyond what is perceived. Sometimes ‘things’ become idealised within us through visuals/cognition. However, we simultaneously maintain the conviction that we view the same ‘things’ as others. Aren’t these notions of Visual/Cognition/Polarity/Universality equivalent to ideas of mind/belief?

In this current situation where varying emotions and beliefs are divided by events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, I want to demonstrate that there is a possibility to ‘see’ the same ‘things’ in spite of the overarching existence of Visual/Cognition/Polarity/Universality.

―　Yuna Yagi