HAGIWARA PROJECTS is very pleased to present an solo exhibition by Naho Yokoya, titled “Kagamishi (Mirror maker), Blue, Bird” . This exhibition will be the artist's first solo show in Tokyo after the oversea residency in six years.

Using film and installation, Yokoya presents extraordinary scenes that arise from applying manipulations to regular life. She arranges maquette, gardens, and secret compartments in each space, sometimes transforming a hotel room into a space that conjures ruins covered by forestation. These installations gives the observer the feeling of uncanny that is at once tranquil and at the same time emanates a disquieting aura.

For this exhibition, Yokoya captures the “mirror” as the boundary between everyday life and the other side, creating an installation that speaks deeply to the viewer’ s consciousness. Through her work, Yokoya—who has conducted research historic remains and folklore in Japan and overseas and who continues to examine human behavior — prompts insight into the self (the internal) as projected within foreign things and in the boundary between worlds, in an attempt to trigger a forward-thinking consciousness that affirms the relationship between self and other, as well as the essence of humankind, found therein.

Regarding this exhibition, she continues:
“For example, let’ s say there was an extraordinarily skilled master mirror maker, and let’ s say they could also create the world that was reflected there in the mirror. Today, mirrors are predominately made of glass, but long ago they were made by polishing metal until images were reflected. The words “to reflect or be reflected in a mirror” give me a strong sense not of the feminine per se but moreover of the ancient position of the mirror and its role as a sacred treasure.

In the ‘mirrors’ of yore, the metal of the mirror was crafted to a certain thickness, and images emerged under the light. In other words, the mirror held within it secret images, hidden images. For instance, the mirror was considered a sacred item for the Kakure Kirishitan (the “Hidden Christians” of Japan), and was used as an instrument of worship.

Mirror makers were at one time mostly older members of the community. Working with the toxic mercury that was used to make mirrors for extended periods of time resulted in illness and a shortened lifespan, and also interfered with procreation. For this reason, it is believed that elders, who did not have much longer to live, were generally employed in this occupation. The two sides of the mirror. Certainly the mirror maker saw many things. Making mirrors to order, and seeing the world on the other side.”

Courtesy of Hagiwara Projects