Look Again

Look Again is an installation made from fallen leaves collected from three Bodhi trees in Okinawa.

These Bodhi trees were grown from saplings brought from Sri Lanka as symbols of mourning for those who died in the Battle of Okinawa and of hope for postwar recovery. Today, they continue to be cared for by many people.

What moved me was not their history alone, but the fact that one wish continues to be passed from person to person. I wanted to become part of that continuing time, and this work grew from that intention.

The work uses fallen leaves in the midst of decomposition. I fire them into glass while preserving this transitional state.

Glass is not used to preserve the leaves themselves. It allows light to pass through, casting the shadows of the leaves behind them. The work brings suspended time and flowing time into the same space.

I fire fallen leaves in the midst of decomposition into glass, making the time that continues to be passed down the subject of the work itself.