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Artworks
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro
Nami Usagi, 2020acrylic gouache paint & jute cord on helicopter panel157 x 125 x 14 cmFurther images
We have reversed the evolution of manned flight by taking Australian Air Force surplus plane parts and with a bit of paint and string, turned them back into kites. Japanese...We have reversed the evolution of manned flight by taking Australian Air Force surplus plane parts and with a bit of paint and string, turned them back into kites. Japanese kites are not representative of a culturally hermetic system and are therefore a great visual example of transculturation. Our aim is to re-focus on the here and now without suffering from cultural myopia.
One of the most beautiful and endearing motifs is the nami usagi, the rabbit and the wave. Rabbit legends are plentiful, and the association to the hare and the moon is the eastern version of the Western 'Man on the moon' seen in the night sky.
Does the image hearken back to a Buddhist ledgend of the hare given the privilege of living in the moon for his act of self-sacrifice? Or is the moon the symbol of Mochi, the special confectionary that the rabbit is said to make with the mortor and pestle? (The Japanese believe this is what they see in the moon).. Either way the hare has become a symbol of good fortune.
According to another ledgend, the female hare conceives by running on the waves on the 18th day of the eighth moon. The hare is also the embodiment of speed and motion, feet kicking body intense and alert, it is cunning and its speed is obvious.
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