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Chinmoku: Silence
Cotton,
polyester, recycled fabric, rayon, pearl cotton thread.
Applied Korean paper twisting
technique to fabric, buttonhole stitched dyed and painted,
hand quilted.
60 x 42 inches
Statement: Chinmoku:
Silence was inspired by the novel with the eponymous title
by Endo Shusaku. Chinmoku deals with the struggles of a Jesuit
monk in Japan during Kakure Kirishitan (“hidden Christian”), a
time of active discrimination against Christians. The novel
questions how far one should go in defending one’s faith, and
explores one man’s pursuit of a God who—despite his silence—is
always present through adversity.
In Chinmoku: Silence, I wanted to replicate this
quality of questing. The image is rendered in grayscale in
order to represent not only silence, but also the myriad
shades of gray in between black and white. Only a sheer
curtain separates the girl (who is indoors) from the outside
world, symbolizing disconnect between reality and the inner
mind. While faith is often perceived as purely black and
white, the reality is that life presents a variety of
confusing gray areas. For those who continue to pursue, this
can be a disillusioning experience.
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