Here and There
I don’t know when I actually crossed the border.
In a closed box, I nervously take out my passport and documentation. The officer is not a Mexican I knew from twenty years ago. An intimidating void penetrated my chest and left a hollow in it. The sandy air goes through it, and I oddly feel privileged, realising I can go almost anywhere with this tiny booklet.
In front of the rusty metal pieces, I lose my feelings. People enjoy barbequing five meters away from the “wall” while an old lady talks to her son on the other side of the “wall”. It is not like the one between North and South Korea. Full of joy and devastating moments, they sit side by side and have an awkward time together. Acceptance and resistance of their life. The other side is a no man’s land.
I cannot remember how I came back to San Diego. Passing by glittering bars and clubs, I got into a shabby shop. I swallow two hot dogs and a Corona while chatting with a middle-aged Mexican lady who only speaks Spanish. I run upstairs to the rooftop of the hotel. I think filling my lungs with smoke would help me get my feelings back. The plateau is a no man’s land.
After everything, there is nothing. I keep looking in the hollow till the sun burns my eyes. A janitor sits right next to me. He fires up a cigarette. He seems to be looking into the hollow as well. I leave the rest of my cigarettes for him and go downstairs to my room.
Twenty-four hours later, I arrive in Tokyo. The hollow in my chest doesn’t seem to be filled with my flesh again, yet it is rather comfortable now. It becomes a telescope to see the other side of the hollow.
Now I see my feelings after the finitude.
2019. Tijuana – San Diego
Foreword
This series of dialogues, “Here and There”, aims to open the dialogues of young artists to the public. It may not be one of those instantaneous and concise interaction. The compact and rapid exchange on social media has enabled us to encounter millions of different opinions and cultures; however, it might be critical for art to evolve from this point. So, the idea is to deepen each topic by exchanging writings via email. It is pretty much to circle back to the way it was by using, slightly old, modern technology.
Dialogue seems so privileged that only public figures are allowed to join. There has to be an organiser or an institution that invites them to the podium. Interviews would go the same; no matter how famous or popular they are, they have to have a certain recognition in public.
Yet, it’s getting much easier to expose oneself to the public, thanks to social media. Everyone can orchestrate what they do and share it with others. It turns the spotlight on them, even if it’s only for a split second.
As I inscribe the title “Here and There” on this series of dialogues, I focus on having discussions with artists who engage with multiple art forms. I myself put my feet on both painting and architecture equally, and I have always been curious to see how other artists work on several forms of art.
This writing project actually started five years ago with a good artist friend of mine*, Takahiro Okubo. He was an assistant to a painter and his sensei, Nobuhiko Utsumi, who trained me as well. He was also studying architecture while assisting Utsumi sensei and decided to leave architecture to study painting in San Fransisco. We both share the aspiration towards space through different mediums, namely architecture and painting.
As I discussed with Okubo-san in the first discussion, engaging with multiple art forms or fields is crucial to provoking deception in societies. Symptomatic treatment against issues in societies can only solve them in the short run. Then, what ought to happen is a small and steady change in each subject on macro levels. Although art is also about the pleasure of creation, it always reflects how the world is and how we are. Whether the author intends or not, it is the duty of painting or architecture. Which also helps artists nurture their identities by being “Here and There.” Once you manage to crawl into this state of “Trans-Activity”, you are entitled to de-categorise from any established fields. This is already a confusion for the current social sphere.
Having said that all, you might feel the notion of being “Here and There” is pretty unclear. Which probably should because you cannot just generalise each way of being “Here and There”. I exchange thoughts with as many artists as possible so that we can witness millions of ways of multi-disciplinarity and crosspoints of any art form. Ultimately, I hope to see myself “Here, There and Everywhere”.
Dialogues