From One Generation to Another
(Exhibition ‘Family of Things‘ at the Charles City Arts Center: A part of From One Generation to Another can be seen on the wall)
From One Generation to Another
(Collaborative work with Angela Waseskuk)
Charles City Arts Center, Iowa, USA
2024
Gallery 33, Tokyo, Japan
2025
This is a collaborative work with an artist Angela Waseskuk, who is based in the US. This piece was first created for an exhibition at the Charles City Arts Center in Iowa, USA in 2024, and then recreated in Japan in the following year for a show at the Gallery 33 in Tokyo, Japan.
This piece is inspired by memories of playing the telephone game, however, instead of whispering a secret, we passed drawings. We each chose a native bird that was near extinction or decreasing in number in our area and gave ourselves as much time and attention to detail with our drawings. Once our drawing was complete, we passed it digitally to the other. We only allowed ourselves one minute to study the other’s drawing, then we drew from memory what we saw to the best of our ability. Those drawings were then traded, and we kept up this pattern of studying and drawing… from one generation to the next. We repeated this for some 7-8 times. The drawing was then transferred onto old plates that likely once shared a life with someone.
Since we each drew a drawing at the beginning, there are two ‘lineages’ of birds. Two versions of the telephone game (colour and monochrome) are each arranged in a single row, from left to right. The far left is the original drawing, with information passed along sequentially towards the right.
One of the ‘lineages’ (from Tokyo version)
The other ‘lineage’ (from US version)
As we keep passing on, our drawings became less connected to the original drawings and more connected to a general, almost child-like, memory of “bird.” However carefully we attempted to recreate what we saw, the process in which information is lost, added, and some features being altered and emphasised felt like quite a personal experience bordering on the absurd. Yet it also resembled the universal phenomenon whereby memories fade with time, and details become obscured.
The first drawing by Minako Shirakura (left) and the 9th drawing (the last) of the same bird
The first drawing by Angela Waseskuk (left) and the 8th (the last) drawing of the same bird
Many people attach memories to objects. And objects passed down through generations in a household, such as an old decorative plate hung on the wall, often carry embedded sentiments towards something fading away.
This work emerged from a touch of playfulness, a sort of experiment, and carries a comical air. Yet the process of making it also became a time to confront things we try to preserve yet are lost, or may be lost – the loss of memory and history.
Installation views at Gallery 33