Ikeda Chiyoko: Along My Roots V.01
2005, 29”X41”, Color Print,
Poster project
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Designer
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A faded photo of a slightly nervous young woman wearing a kimono and kneeling down on the floor next to a man who is dressed in a Western-style suit with round eyeglasses is a symbolic image for me of my maternal grandparents. A Japanese style room with tatami mats can be seen in the background of the photo. My imagination about the marriage between a Korean studying in Japan and an ordinary Japanese girl at the end of World War II provides me a vague clue as to my roots. After I accidentally found the photo, I decided to go in search of my grandmother’s original name, which no one in my family remembered, as she spent her entire life after her marriage living in Korea with a Korean name. For me, creative inspiration is sometimes acquired accidentally, without a plan, and can be rediscovered in existing thoughts and objects.