During my stay in Paris, I began collecting images, particularly fig leaves, which have historically been used to conceal genitalia. This led to the creation of this work.

 

My parents’ job is pixelating to hide genital parts of porngraphic videos. In Japan, this pixelation is called ‘mosaic’. For me, the term ‘mosaic’ conveys the idea of hiding or blurring. 

Pornography was very much around me from a young age. It was commonplace for me to act as if I couldn't see what I could see about sexuality, and by extension, my own body. 

 

I had been with parakeets for around 20 years. A quick look at a parakeet's body does not reveal its gender characteristics. When witnessing the parakeet performing mating behaviour with my hand in the living room, where my family was also present, it felt as if something inside me had started to move. Not only because of that experience, but I have been working with bird motifs since then.

 

In English, ‘mosaic’ is the image of fine fragments coming together to form one thing. ​I take photos and videos, and write texts on a daily basis. So that I can ruminate on the texture of daily life. This work is part of my research and my journey toward finding my own ‘mosaic’.

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(1) "Adam and Eve" Albrecht Dürer 1504, Public domain, via Rijksmuseum

(2) "Adam and Eve" Musée de Cluny , Public domain, photo by Ai Ozaki

(3) "Fig Leaf for David" D. Brucciani, VAwebteam at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

(4)  "Adam" Tullio Lombardo , Public domain, via Metropolitan museum

(5) "Pvt. Thomas Welch (SP 235)" Otis Historical Archives of “National Museum of Health & Medicine” (OTIS Archive 1), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons​​