Moemi Takano

Artist Statement

My current artistic practice revolves around the idea of subversive aspect of handicraft. By applying various mark-making methods such as woodcut print, embroidery and collage, I explore how small actions of hand can evoke larger philosophical questions of our age of social and environmental crisis on a planetary scale. While artists who speak out about the “self”, one’s “emotion” or “sensitivity” may easily get labelled as “naïve” and excluded from the concept-centred art field, I stick to handmade abstractions that evoke emotional responses. In doing so, I display my sentiment towards humanity. By sentiment I mean an interest in what has been defining humans since the primordial past. Or can it be my confusion for us possibly losing or forgetting it. Through engaging with intensive handwork, I reflect on our ancestors’ numerous efforts to form a society, particularly through visual languages. My fascinations are always how the primordial have invented letters to communicate and how they began decorating their surroundings with lines and patterns. The images I present are somehow symbolic but with no specific references. While the works seem to be full of emotions bursting inward, connotations or messages, their actual objective is not to lecture the viewer. I try to keep my artistic quality full of arbitrariness and contingencies, so that it can open outwards. The work seems to behave like landscapes, in front of which we know this tree is just around here and that cloud of sky is simply over there, staying away from rational interpretations.