WORKS

This work, "Shiwaku Islands," is a commissioned piece for the Marugame City Citizens' Exchange Activity Center, Maltas (Kagawa). Visually based on the view of the Seto Inland Sea stretching blue towards Okayama, as seen from Marugame Castle and Aonoyama, it presents the current calm sea as a vast expanse of blue. Simultaneously, it references the fact that the Shiwaku Islands functioned as a crucial point in ocean currents, playing a historical role as a route for pilgrimages to Konpira Shrine, the sankin-kotai system, and early modern maritime transport. Drawing on iconographic materials such as Hiroshige's ukiyo-e prints and the giant votive paintings preserved at Yamakita Shrine, the artist used soil obtained through research on Honjima, Hiroshima, and Ushijima to depict the image of ships connected to Marugame. The soil of the land functions not merely as a material, but as a substance embodying the region's history, superimposing the trajectory of past traffic onto the visualized current landscape. Thus, this work is an attempt to make visible the history of exchange in the Seto Inland Sea region through material and color.