Where the Salt Meets the Sky, and Time Holds Its Breath, 2024

塩が空と出会い、時間が息を⽌める場所
The starting point is an oddly shaped window frame, which finds its origin in The Netherlands, my home country. Last month in Takeo I stumbled upon a shape behind a window which was similar to the Dutch frames and decided to make this shape into a window frame as well. Connecting the Dutch and Japanese shapes which could stand for the way privacy is valued, a way to keep the mosquitos away or even gentrification. I decided to incorporate the semi-transparent traditional Japanese Washi paper into the frames referring to the Japanese shoji screens. Covering the paper with white herons which in Japanese mythology are able to traverse across the three elements: earth, air and water. And as an opposite depicting blue herons symbolizing long life, solitude but also tragedy or loss. Blue herons are also widely known in the streets of Amsterdam, the city where I was born and raised, stealing fish on the local market or posing for tourists in front of the famous Anne Frank House. Whereas the white heron is an exceptional bird in the Netherlands and you are lucky to have seen one. Here in Japan they are my mysterious neighbors standing in the rice fields and flying into the horizon.

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