ITAMI

…like a great lung, I watched the river suck the straw back into itself with the tide change. Back home in New Zealand, I noticed similar levels of plastic waste in the water bodies I grew up with, the objects again striking me as simultaneously beautiful and deadly. For this piece I used a driftwood reed found on the shores of Lake Taupo,

painted with gouache in cerulean blue.

To honour and emphasise the fragile nature of the reed, a fracture incurred during travel is repaired with gold foil (in the spirit of Kintsugi).  The adjustable toggle is made with silk, silver and a fragment of marine plastic collected at Kohimaramara Beach, Auckland.

The museum opened in 1989 with the aim of enriching the community through various arts and crafts activities. The museum displays a broad range of outstanding and cutting edge works through its exhibitions, notably the “ITAMI International Craft Exhibition”. It also runs the “ITAMI College of Jewellery to train professional jewellery artists. ITAMI International Craft Exhibition’s bi-annual theme is “Jewellery”. The Museum of Arts and Crafts ITAMI endeavours to broaden the culture of jewellery.

The recognition of ITAMI = jewellery is now widely spread not only in Japan but also abroad. The organisers receive around 1,000 pieces of work from artists in 19 countries, of these only 97 are selected, of which 8 receive prizes after strict examination.
Among those from diverse backgrounds, the works awarded with prizes as well as those selected demonstrate careful consideration towards the relationship with body, nature and social environment.