Artist Statement
Universes of Girls

― Eyes Beyond the Universe ―

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In prehistoric times, since women gave birth, the life force and fertility of the earth were likened to women, and they were worshipped as earth mother deities.
In polytheistic religions such as Greek and Roman mythology and Japanese Shintoism, goddesses also exist.

 

However, in the social structure, since Roman times and the Heian period in Japan, men have generally been active in the public sphere and have been at the center of politics and economics (although a few queens and female emperors have existed).

 

From the Renaissance onward, artists produced many statues of nudes and paintings extolling the beauty of women. At the same time, it can be said that these works were often painted from the idealized point of view of men.

 

Today, there is a movement toward gender equality, as evidenced by the inclusion of gender equality as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations.

 

However, there are still unconscious expectations and ideals for women that cannot be translated into institutionalized forms.
For example, in Japan, there is a way to criticize women for not being feminine, kind, modest, or witty "in spite of being a woman.

 

I would like to betray such unconscious expectations of women.

 

All life must be equal.

Life, death, and disease have nothing to do with gender, social status, or economic power.
The worlds I depict are such worlds, and she has placed the girls as the people who run their own worlds.

 

Each of them has a role to move their own worlds.
In this way, I would like to give them the feelings of "being allowed to be here," which are what she has wanted since she was a child.

 

The reason I place the girls in the painting instead of prehistoric statues of voluptuous ladies because the girls are seemingly frail. The kawaii, pretty appearance emphasizes that the girls' image is idealized.
But please don't judge them only by their appearances.
The birth of life is paired with death. They are the people who control and observe life and death in their world.