Akiko Nagino
Recent Exhibition Catalogue
Akiko studied Japanese Lacquer and has leaned a variety of traditional skills in Japan. She loves her Japanese culture and in the course of learning Japanese Lacquer, she developed a traditional style and has learned apply a range of different techniques. Currently she is experimenting with more primitive expressions.
Artist Statement:
When I think something is beautiful, there also must be some aspect of it that horrifies me. What is beautiful is always paired with what is unsightly, and they form a duality that is fascinating. Butterflies are beautiful, but what you feel turns to fear once you see their gaudy patterns and scales. I've been deathly afraid of butterflies for a long time, but even still I can't take my eyes off of them. As someone who is unavoidably aware of how much butterfly patterns frighten me, I have become very keen to notice the patterns around me. Plants, fish scales, groups of insects, bird feathers, cracks in the pavement, rusted-over paint--the appearance of something being encroached upon is beautiful, and at the same time some part of it is unsettling.
Kimono #2 Hand cut paper 150 x 130 x 10cm $25,000
Akiko Nagino Untitled Paper and rust 25 x 150 x 14cm $5,500
The Shiromuku is a traditional Japanese wedding kimono. The white colour symbolises purity and also the “death” of the woman in leaving her family to begin a new life with her husband and his family. It means, “I will die once, then be dyed with the traditional colours of my new family”. For women, marriage means taking over her husband’s family business and customs for the next generation. In Japan it is mandatory that when a person marries he or she will change their name but it is still expected that a women will change her name, otherwise they’re not allowed to get married.
For this piece I used the traditional kitukoumon, a hexagonal pattern based on a turtle’s shell, which is a well known symbol of long life in Japanese culture. Inside each hexagon I placed a different kamon (family crest) design. Kamon are commonly used in Japan as a symbol for families and traditional businesses, and are passed down through the generations.
These days we often talk about women’s rights. Even now some people believe that wives should be devoted to their husbands and his family and that women should always stay behind men and not offer their opinions. Especially when the husband’s family has a traditional shop, for example a kimono shop, wives will be expected to devote themselves to the shop too. Without these traditional ideas we wouldn’t have been able to take over traditional skills. Today the kimono is well known as a representative of Japanese culture and requires many different skills to make. However, there are numerous invisible traditional and cultural ideas behind this beautiful garment.
Myself, I cannot agree that when we are married we have to devote ourselves to our husbands and our husband’s family, but if we didn’t have those traditional ideas and cultural attitudes we wouldn’t have the kimono today.