HIKARI SHIMODA

Two years after falling into depression and losing the ability to paint, I casually took up “Kintsugi” as a hobby. It was a simplified version using resin, but I found joy in repairing broken things. Sometimes I deliberately smash vessels with a hammer to practice Kintsugi. That act carries a guilt akin to having hurt someone. That panic and regret that I have done something irreversible. Then I repair that broken vessel myself. Sometimes, depending on the piece, it looks even better than before. The ways vessels break are varied, and their repaired forms become truly unique. Until now, I’ve depicted themes of living while carrying the pain and loneliness of existence. Who saves us from this suffering? Ultimately, isn’t it death, or enduring and changing ourselves? Conflict rages constantly in the world, creating deep divisions both in reality and online. How can we be saved? I found no answer. Watching news of conflict on TV while doing Kintsugi, I thought, “Maybe we just need to keep repairing.” Broken things cannot be restored to their original state. Wounded hearts, bodies, and relationships between people probably cannot return to how they were before. But perhaps we can repair them into a different form. Could that be one form of salvation? Thinking this, I decided to exhibit works created amid the vortex of suffering alongside pieces that conceptually project kintsugi onto paintings. The title “Things” signifies various entities: the human heart, society, the world, and more.