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Birth-Sex-Life-Death-House-Legend in Ogijima

 

Today’s Setouchi International Art Festival’s artwork may be the strangest of the festival. Ok, “strange” might not be the best qualifier, or “strange” in the sense that I would expect to see this type of work on a smaller scale – there it was taking a full house plus some sort of shed – and more important, I would expect it to be the work of an art student, still full of teen angst or something along those lines, not coming from a 62 year-old man in such a festival. Because, yes, Birth-Sex-Life-Death-House-Legend in Ogijima (誕生─性─生─死─家─男木島伝説) by Yoshio Kitayama (北山 善夫) is a quite tormented work indeed, and its goal, its concept remains quite unclear to me.

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 1

 

To paraphrase the official guide: the themes of life and death are themes that Kitayama uses often to find his inspiration and in the present case, it’s the legend from the Shinto shrine located nearby that inspired him. It is Toyotama-hime Jinja (豊玉姫神社), a shrine where, back in the days, pregnant women would go pray for a safe delivery of their yet to be born baby.

I can’t really say whether I liked this piece of art or not. Certainly a little bit of both. I find a certain lack of originality in it, a certain lack of maturity (as previously said, I would expect this from a young adult or a teenager, not a man in his sixties). However, I must admit that there’s a certain evocative strength that emanates from the work. In any cases, it really stands apart on Ogijima, where almost every other artwork has a playful, joyful dimension, not mentioning a social one.

To finish, I’ll add that –as you’ll see in a few seconds- this work is really a multiple work as it spread over a whole house where five rooms over two stories where used, plus some sort of big shed near it.

I won’t really comment much on the different elements, I’ll let you form an opinion by yourselves. 🙂

 

The Shed:

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 14

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 02

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 03

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 11

 

 Upon entering the house:

 

 Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 04

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 07

 

The room to the left:

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 05

 

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Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 06

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 15

 

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The room to the right
(at first sight, it looked pretty much like a normal room, had not it been for a few details):

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 08

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 09

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 17

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 18

 

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Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 20

 


Upstairs:

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 13

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 21

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 24

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 22

 

 The other room upstairs:

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 10

 

Birth Sex Life Death House Legend in Ogijima 25

 

So? What do you think?

And while I’m still not sure myself what to think about these works, what I know is that I wouldn’t mind living in this house. They say houses are small in Japan, but this one is definitely bigger than any place I’ve lived in France (it’s much bigger as a few rooms were not used by the artist, there’s a inner courtyard and more).

You can also check my map of Ogijima during the festival (it’s getting completed little by little, click on “map” for more details as the satellite view is not too precise)

 

 

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