|
Dubhe Carreño Gallery Contemporary Ceramic Art |
Machiko Munakata
|
|
Artist’s Statement
If my memory serves me correctly, I have moved every 6 months to 3 years since I was a young child. Consequently, the experience of moving makes me gravitate to words like order, arrange, array, sort, and compartments. These words are becoming the prominent content, especially in recent my work. The experience of many moves is finally catching up to me.
My last major move was to Chicago in 2002. Moving into a smaller apartment forced me to add words such as consolidate, purge, and prioritize to my everyday vocabulary. As I try to find a place for everything, I try to find a place for myself: both in the apartment and the new city.
I have accumulated an enormous amount of material over the years which half of them means nothing to me. It is surreal for me to comprehend when I think of the time I came to United States with only one suitcase from Japan- That was 13 yrs ago. But, I always have a massive load to take no matter what I do: memories good and bad, experience, and learned lessons. These loads, physical or not, they always find a way to revisit me when I am working in clay. And, those experiences are there, quietly claiming its place.
Machiko Munakata 2006
|