GLASSWORKS ⟫
installation
Glassworks Koganecho
Glass, metal
For this work I used the materials of stained glass to create Japanese Characters for women's names that are also synonymous with the names of flowers. Since I had been working to make glass like effects with my kaleidoscope and silver paintings, I thought it might be interesting to work with physical glass.
The work was made whilst I was an artist in resident in the Koganecho area of Yokohama. I was surprised to find out that up until about 2005, that many women once populated the tiny spaces in the tenement buildings, used for sex work and prostitution. As a women and artist inhabiting the same spaces, I can only imagine what it might have been like. The fragility and breakable nature of glass in this work is indicative of the nature of human emotion and hardship. The works are also reminiscent of the illuminated signs once on display in the area.
In the last installation I also used stained glass to create the Japanese character for art “gei”. The term gei encompasses many art forms as well as the performing arts and also appears in the word “geisha” which signifies women of traditional art and eroticism. Again, the work contemplates the fragile nature of words and meanings in the world of love, life and art.