2012 Reflection

I am deeply grateful for my Japanese culture and heritage. I was raised speaking two languages in my family.  My mother is Japanese and my father is Californian.  I am who I am today because of my parents, as well as my Japanese and Danish ancestors who have passed on before me.  I grew in love and appreciation particularly for my Asian ancestors as I sat with my mother who shared story after story of intimate, unrecorded memories of my great-great grandfather who was a samurai in his village and of his wife who took care of the poor.  As I learned more about my past, my love grew deeper and I came to the realization that we truly don’t exist by chance, but that our life is the product of other lives preceding it.  All that we do, be it small and simple, or grand and extraordinary, not only builds our character, but also lays a foundation for our posterity. 

Through being exposed to my heritage and having served an LDS mission in Japan, I have felt my true identity made clearer.  My work is intended to show through personal symbols how one generation can have an effect on the next, or in my case how my ancestry has paved the way for my future.  I address this by creating a system of rules that are limited to one direction allowing each work to affect the next.  The past, present and future are interwoven into lines and shapes, which represent unity in a family bond, unrestrained by time.  I want to address this through my artwork by creating personal symbols that represent a deep yearning to come closer to those who have gone before me.