Wish Upon A Star

 

This Spring and Summer I was busy working on several projects. In mid-April, I was out of shape due to overwork. While feeling frustrated that my body couldn't keep up with the things I wanted to do, I proceeded with things in front of me, one by one. I took on challenges that I couldn’t do alone. I’m working with others while paying attention to my own pace and their pace. I’ll report on those experiences later.

Every August in Japan, there are memorial events to remember the dead, such as memorial services for the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Obon to honor the spirits of ancestors, etc. Every September in the US, there are memorial observances of the September 11 attacks. Many people died this year due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as natural disasters. With the economic slump caused by the pandemic, and continuing financial and geopolitical instability, peace is a common wish for everyone.

Wish Exhibition and related events created by the Creative Learning Grant-supported Peace and Harmony Project runs through September 21st at Manhattanville Community Center. This exhibition combines the ancient Summer Star Festival, with Peace and Harmony workshops, which focus on disaster recovery and improving health. We are exhibiting origami cranes, medicine balls, and wish strips made by workshop participants. It includes some medicine balls made last year, and collage works made with 2019 Creative Learning Grant that explores Manhattan Project history beginning with atomic bomb development in NYC in 1942.  We have holding many events with participating artists at Manhattanville Community Garden.

This project connects the past and present to create our future. It gives confidence to every individual. It taught us that with everyone's cooperation, we can do things together that we can’t do alone.Thank you very much to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and their Creative Learning Grant, Graham Windham, Children's Art Carnival, and all participants and supporters.

• Wish Exhibition For Our Future

Friday August 5 - Friday August 26 

Monday September 12- Wednesday September 21

4PM- 8PM.

• Opening

Friday August 5, 

3PM - 5:30PM

Exhibition Room

Picture-story Screening:

“A Tale of Mimi and Lou-Lou” 

Sanae Buck & Orin Buck 

"The Story of Small World"

Shiro Ogura

Japan's Peace Constitution

Shigeru Hanaoka

Community Garden:

Shigeru Hanaoka/Saxophone

William Paul Delp/Toy Piano

Pablo Salazar-Moreno/Guitar

Uniqua Simmons/poetry reading

• Presentation

Friday August 12, 

3PM - 5:30PM

Exhibition Room:

"Under This Sky: Manhattan Project"

Yasuyo Tanaka and Regina Corpus

Community Garden:

Ayakoh Furukawa-Leonart/performance

Sanae Buck/performance

Yukari Osaka/Dance

• Closing

Wednesday September 21, 

3PM - 5:30PM

Exhibition Room:

" For Our Future" Peace Day Talk and Discussion

Community Garden:

Children fly wishes with origami airplanes

Hisayasu Takashio&Kiku/performance

"A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945:

Iasao Hashimoto/Video

Atsuko Yuma/performance

Sanae Buck/performance

Uniqua Simmons/performance

Creating Home: Immigrant Perspectives

NoMAA Gallery

4140 Broadway, 176 St. First FL

June 23-August 31

Tuesday 1-5pm

Appointment : email info@nomaanyc.org

I went to see my group exhibition with children and teachers from Graham Windham. We can listen to each immigrant artist’s story through a QR code displayed next to their works in this exhibition, which has home as its theme.By living in the US, after immigrating from the small island nation of Japan, I broadened my horizons and was able to see things from a bird's-eye view. While talking about the episode of the photo used in my work "Under this Sky", I conveyed what is happening in our home, the earth.

A New Beginning

Cherry blossoms are blooming and green is returning. Around this time last year, I got COVID-19, took a rest at home, and recovered without any medicine. After waking up from a long sleep, the first place I visited was Morningside Park.I saw the Statue of Liberty, laying down with her eyes closed, and met Zaq Landsberg, who created the artwork titled "Reclining Liberty”.

Inspired by "Reclining Liberty", which seemed to represent current situations in New York City, I wanted to know what New Yorkers think of this statue. I learned that this statue would be removed on 4/22/22. I started thinking about what I could do, and told other artists about “Reclining Liberty”. The idea I had a year ago is now bearing fruit. 16 performers, neighbors, friends, and local organizations interested in "Reclining Liberty"gathered. Something new has begun.

Reclining Liberty Project

Saturday, April 9 from 1 PM to 5 PM in Morningside Park @ West 120th St and Morningside Avenue.

With gratitude for the impact of Zaq's work over the past year, artists influenced by his work will come together, and exercise their freedom, to present their individual and collective responses to "Reclining Liberty”. The COVID-19 pandemic were in place, and parks became the only place of relaxation that everyone could enjoy equally. Freedom lives in the parks!  Let’s have a wonderful time on this beautiful Spring afternoon, interacting and confirming each other’s collective freedom with music, dance, drama, and poetry

Facebook: Reclining Liberty Project.

“Women in the Heights Up Close and Personal”

Curated by Andrea Arroyo

March 17 – May 15, 2022

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance

Gallery Space at 4140 Broadway, New York, NY 10033

between 175th St. and 176th St.

(212) 567-439

Artist Talk: April 5th, 5:30-7:30 pm 

I will talk about the relationship between the medicine ball and my family. Based on my story “Overcoming”, I will perform on Saturday April 9th in Morningside Park in front of “Reclining Liberty” 

Vimeo: Overcoming

Memory + Healing + Sustainability: 

West Harlem Arts 2nd Annual Exhibition

April 21– July 16, 2022

Opening: Saturday April 23

Hours Saturday +Sunday 12 -6pm

During weekdays Please RSVP childrensartcarnival@gmail.com

Children's Art Carnival

62 Hamilton Terrace, New York, NY 10031

Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano 

619 W 145th St, New York, NY 10031　

Kusudama (Medicine Balls): Wishes For Our Future

Medicine balls, called kusudama, made from Japanese paper, by participants of "Peace and Harmony" origami workshops. Thank you very much to all participants, hosts, and City Artist Corps Grants! 

Peace and Harmony: Japanese Paper Workshops

Collaborative work 

Children's Art Carnival　

Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano 

Tenants Association 610 West 145th St.

Manhattanville Community Center

Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
First Quincy Street Community Garden

With Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Learning Grant support, I’ll continue Peace and Harmony Workshops, and hold a Wish Exhibition at the Manhattanville Community Center this summer. Please write your wish for our future on a Wish Strip with map image during the Memory + Healing + Sustainability Exhibition. I’ll hang these at Manhattanville Community Center’s Wish Exhibition.

In our unstable world of war, pollution, nuclear threats, and the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to create harmony and peace, and to respect individual freedom.

Turning Point

 

New Year’s Day in New York City was rainy. However, a photo of my friend's New Year's Day sunrise reminded me that another part of the world is sunny. I learned that what I see in front of me, is not always true.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, I’ve been feeling the importance of freedom, health, and peace more than ever. Because of the pandemic it was difficult to return to Japan. My father was hospitalized 7 months ago and died on December 19, 2021 at 3:20 AM, Japan time. He was 82 years and three months old. I would like to share my experiences and feelings.

On December 18th, my sister from Japan video called me in New York. This allowed me to be with my father and our family in my father’s last hours alive. My sister brought her cell phone closer to our father's face so he could hear my voice. I could see his facial expressions and reactions up close. I thanked my father. Even though we were apart, my heart has always been with my father. 

The day after my father died was my mother's birthday. He was finally able to go back home. The smile on his face as he lay dead in his house, and in the funeral home, healed our whole family. From the time when life and death intersected, I felt my father was watching over us at the soul level. His presence made us closer than ever. Since my father was diagnosed with dementia 12 years ago, each family member has learned a lot from him.

I was in conflict with my father because of differences in our values. I moved to New York City in 1994 to live freely in my own way. Some of the reasons I was able to survive in New York without relying on my parents, was that I wanted to prove my freedom, independence, and responsibility to my father. 

In 2010, I held my first solo exhibition in Japan entitled Transformation: Question to Myself. My relationship with my father began to improve gradually when my father came to see my artworks. At that time, my father developed dementia and retired from work. I was worried about my father's illness and returned to Japan every year until 2019, before the pandemic began. The days I spent with my father helped us heal each other and smooth out our differences. I learned about myself from my father and was able to make precious memories with him.

Family relationships can be deep and loving. Parents tend to expect children to do what parents think is good. Due to differences in generations and values, one's happiness may not be the other's happiness. Parents and children are unique persons with different constitutions and personalities. During my relationship with my father, we learned to respect each other with love, which was greater than our differences. The growth of our individual souls through mutual understanding was a key lesson I learned for my changing future.

The morning my father was hospitalized, I talked with him on a video call. My father's words of compassion for our family were so clear that I couldn't believe he had dementia. It seemed to me that he knew everything that was likely to happen to him, and he told me his wishes. Instinctively thinking that I might not be able to see my father anymore, I thanked him for bringing me into the world with my mother. I apologized for not being with him. My father's last words to me that day were "Please remember me”. After being hospitalized, he eventually couldn't speak, walk, or eat.

My father was in and out of 3 different hospitals and one group home since May 2021. At the first hospital, our family couldn't see him for almost 3 months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. When he stopped eating and his condition was in danger, my mother and sister were allowed to visit him for a few minutes. He started eating again and managed to leave the hospital. However, he was thin, couldn’t walk, needed a wheelchair, and couldn't speak. After that, the days when he couldn't meet his family continued, and his health rapidly declined. All I can do now is find out what my father experienced, and what he was trying to convey for the past seven months. 

A Kusudama medicine ball I made for my father and those suffering from illness, is on display at the Arsenal Gallery titled “39th annual wreath interpretations exhibition in Central Park through January 6th, 2022. 

online gallery of the show

At this summer's Kusudama making workshops, I met people who were as sick as my father, who were going to be operated on, and many who were worried about the Covid-19 pandemic. Workshop participants and I were healed by connecting over our common wishes for "health and peace”. My father, who continues to inspire me, was a mentor my entire life.

Now I am standing at a turning point in my life. While looking back on what I've done so far, I question myself again, and start something new. The colder the Winter, the more vital the Spring and the dramatic return of new buds. It's time to learn from the pandemic, review our society and our way of life, and regain confidence in our health for the future we want.