Arisa Kawabe

H200×W200×D10mm embroidery 2018

I found an old black-and-white photograph at the antique shop in Germany.
I transcribed it on a thin cloth and embroidered only the part of clothes. The color of clothes were imagined by myself. And I installed the picture behind the cloth.
Therefore, moving the gaze of the viewer makes the face and body of the person double overlapping and ambiguous.
I have used clothes as a motif as a trace of memory for a long time.
No one knows the story about this picture.

And these people may not be in this world any longer.
Even if we try to know the story about the photograph by seeing the people of this picture, we can not see the people of the photograph clearly.
However, clothing clarified by embroidery may possibly be associated with your memory.
I want to make a moment that the story of a life unknown to someone connects with someone memory and stories.

H300×W300mm Embroidery 2018

I found many postcards in German antique shop. It turned out that this was a love letter written in Czech that a Czech man sent to a woman exiled to the German American territory during the two years after the Second World War. This love letter written at the beginning of Communist era been censor by the police, so the truth about politic situation was written behind the stamp.

I am interested in the beautiful handwriting of this love letter, the history background, and their love, I thought about making this little story a work. This work gives people the opportunity to look back on history through this beautiful little story. Even in a language that can not be read, from the beautiful handwriting it is possible to imagine the stories of the two people.

H203×W254mm Transfer to paper 2015

H254×W203mm Transfer to paper 2015

H600×W450×50mm Ceramic Strings 2014

H600×W450×50mm Ceramic Strings 2014

A skirt that was my favorite when I was a child H450×W50×D10mm Ceramic Strings Gold leaf 2014

H350×W150×D20mm Ceramic Strings 2014