EDGE Artist Talk

2023 • gallery G, Hiroshima, JP

At the EDGE exhibition, a collaboration between artists Grauls, Ohata and Harris looked at the boundaries and borders of what we call 'ours'; concerning our skin, our land, and our sense of identity. Through their bilingual artist talk in Hiroshima, each artist from various backgrounds—Ava Grauls (Belgian / South African), Makiko Shimizu Harris (Japanese / American), and Megumi Ohata (Japanese / mixed Korean)—explored the theme of macro and micro boundaries in relation to their own cultural experiences of crossing over land and living within their own skin.

Grauls predominantly works in the management of memories through territory mapping. Her paintings and performances investigate the management of memories of nation states, and how processes have affected our personal culture and identity.

Harris explores the relationship of legacy of familial ties, manipulating family crests. Her paintings reframe and reclaim mixed heritage through an abstraction of traditional kimono patterns worn by four generations of women in her family.

Ohata explores past traumas, ghosts, and non-human entities through their wearable sculptures made of artificial skin. Their work explores the identity of the diaspora through semi-translucent skin garments, pursuing the importance of accepting one's own skin.