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Etsuko Kato
Etsuko Kato
Exhibition Area / Place
Kyu Sano-ke Jutaku
Biography
日本にて大学を卒業後、勤務していた会社の海外研修を機に、2002年より米国に在住。学び直しで入学した大学の必修科目で美術と出会い、専攻を変更するほど美術に魅了され、今に至る。
死生観をテーマにアメリカ人の遺影を撮影したラブレターシリーズや、２年毎に撮影した被災地とセルフポートレイトを重ね合わせた東北シリーズなどを制作。
最近では、特攻隊の教員であった祖父の経験とその後を基に戦争加害、戦争トラウマなどを題材としている。世界各地で戦争トラウマが生み出されている今、祖父母達の経験から何を学び、世代を渡って何を受け継いでいくかを考える。
インスタレーションや製本、写真を媒体とした作品作りをしている。
After graduating from university in Japan, I took advantage of overseas training at the company I worked for and moved to the United States in 2002. I encountered art as a required subject at the university I entered as a refresher, and was fascinated by art to the point that I changed my major.
He has produced works such as the Love Letter series, in which he photographed deceased Americans with the theme of views on life and death, and the Tohoku series, in which he overlays self-portraits with disaster-stricken areas photographed every two years.
Recently, he has been focusing on topics such as war perpetration and war trauma, based on his grandfather's experience as a special attack unit instructor and his subsequent experiences. At a time when war trauma is occurring all over the world, we think about what we can learn from our grandparents' experiences and what we can pass down from generation to generation.
I create works using installation, bookbinding, and photography as mediums.
Artist Statement
わたしは戦争を知らない。
特攻隊員でもあり特攻隊員を養成する教員であった祖父は、戦争について沈黙し、５mmほどの小さな折り鶴を数百羽残して亡くなった。
祖父の沈黙を知りたくて、指鉄砲に墨という弾丸を詰め、祖父の同胞達を射殺することにした。米国で撃った銃の感覚とは違う、あまり恐怖と緊張で嘔吐し、何日も指鉄砲は撃てず、墨は乾いていった。
私達の身体は「今」という時間を生きつつ、過去の記憶の集合体として存在していると私は考える。祖父の記憶が、今私の中にゆっくりと取り込まれていく。
事実としての戦争を学び、祖父達の記憶を共有し、同じ過ちを繰り返さないことが、記憶を受け継いでいく者、私の責務だと知る。
I do not know war.
My grandfather, who was both a kamikaze pilot and a teacher who trained kamikaze pilots, remained silent about the war and passed away, leaving behind hundreds of tiny origami cranes, each no larger than 5mm. Wanting to understand my grandfather's silence, I loaded my finger gun with ink as bullets and set out to "shoot" his comrades. It was different from the feeling of firing a real gun in America; overwhelmed by fear and tension, I vomited and couldn't shoot the finger gun for days, and the ink dried up.
I believe that while our bodies live in the "now," they also exist as a collection of past memories. My grandfather's memories are slowly being absorbed into me now. Learning about the facts of war, sharing the memories of my grandfather and his generation, and ensuring that the same mistakes are not repeated—this, I understand, is my responsibility as one who inherits these memories.
Exhibition Work Photos
