MIKI NITADORI    WORKS 


In today's world, can we live without any link to our origins or exist as a person without a history?

Since the birth of my son, I have been interested in what to transmit of my culture, and how. As a migrant the transmission of culture is a conscious choice rather than something that comes naturally. Can we live without our origin in a foreign country? The greater the distance from our culture, the more we are confronted with it through contact with other cultures. 

Interface

Interface means a common boundary in time, space and between people. In today's society, an “interface” is a boundary that all humans share. The world is moving towards an ever increasing mixture of nationalities, towards a borderless society. Though we are not there yet, several questions arise:

  • What will future generations be like? 

  • Will their identity be segmented from their origins and their culture replaced by another?

This work addresses these questions through a visual “Interface” created in overlapping images which question the interconnections between generations. This is done with images from late 1890's -1950's and 2000-2010. These photographs not only show what is present, but also the past that haunts the present. Though the past after generations becomes less clear, its atmosphere and feelings remain. By valuing the past in the present we understand the relationships of time and people. Also, the only way we can advance is to look at the present, impacted by the past, and think of the future.

This series was made on Maui, Hawaii with Japanese-Americans. It began with a suitcase of photographs owned by a second generation Japanese-American man. The "portraits" created in the series echo the title “interface” by attempting to connect to the present while showing a mixture of origins and generations.