Aloha phantasm

June 25th 2015

Venue : Pont Neuf

Yoyo Gonthier asked me, for his video collaboration project “Presence”, to perform an act that represented my work. He defined the project as follows:

“Be here, occupy space, exist without dominating, listen, fight, gather, relax, shelter, see, receive, give and thank. What is the role of an artist in the society? What is his place? How to express as simply as possible, in the space of a gesture, being present in the world?
This project is based on the points of view of different artists performing for the first time in a public space, searching to interact with their environment, to express their artistic vision. As scrupulous and disciplined explorers, artists have to deal with a variety of unexpected realities and difficulties. However, they can also experience jubilation and harmony, especially when their energies converge. This is a collaborative work, based on the idea of sharing and of sincerity in one's commitment as an artist. These proposals are anchored in the social realities of each environment.”

I proposed Aloha Phantasm.
This was based on celebrating the Japanese – American immigrants, who had come to Hawai’i from the end of the 19th century to the 1950’s. I grew up with these people who had gone through the Second World War, and they gave me much kindness and the care that I needed. In the piece, I created a ritual of cleaning, purifying, giving flowers, a re-incarnation of these people, using and wearing Kimono, military combat uniforms, and black clothes, that represent a stillness that is nonetheless dense with infinite possibility. Burning incense, laying down the clothes as if I they were their bodies, and reflecting sunlight in a hand mirror as if to signal to them. As I am a slower person, the performance initially took 45 minutes, that we cut down to about half of the original length.

I chose Pont Neuf as a venue, as I think a bridge is an important symbol. In an older work I had made with my son in 2007,
I said that the eye is a bridge to life. I used to live in a small room next to the Pont Neuf when I was new in Paris. So, Pont Neuf is a symbol of my beginning of my life as an artist as well. I like the fact that bridges not only connect land, but are themselves an in-between space.

This work reflects my way of existing too. I am a “Japanese” here in Paris. I am combative with what I believe in and have my own stance, not shifted by other people’s opinion or behavior. In other words, I am the gentle Kimono-wearing Geisha, as Europeans imagine Japanese women to be, tough as a soldier when I work, and infinite and dense in my creativity.