WORKS

"Nikko Matatabi-yu" is a painting that explores the historical transformation of the hot spring culture in Oku-Nikko and the process by which hot springs became a form of entertainment and recreation in the modern era. Nikko, while possessing religious and political centrality symbolized by the Toshogu Shrine, has also developed as an international resort area since the Meiji period, centered around Lake Chuzenji and the Yumoto hot springs. This work focuses on this multifaceted sense of place and is positioned as an attempt to condense the time when the simple scenery of a hot spring resort intersects with the signs of modernization into a single image.

In creating the work, Nanjo referenced ukiyo-e prints from the Meiji period depicting hot spring customs, Kazuo Kitai's photo collection "Toujiba" (Hot Spring Resort), and pre-war postcard materials, incorporating elements such as bath attendants washing backs and food stalls outside the bathhouse as motifs.

Using black manganese collected from the Yunodaira Marsh in Oku-Nikko, the artist introduces the unique materiality of the land into their visual expression. The scent of the hot springs that rises during the creation process and after completion evokes layers of time and memory accumulated in the hot spring resort, as a sensory experience beyond sight. This is a practice that reconstructs the intersection of body, landscape, and history surrounding the hot springs within the static medium of painting.