《Mother Piece》

2010
Performance

 

第17回日本国際パフォーマンスアートフェスティバルにて行う。

スーツ姿の私が舞台に立つ。観に来ていた母親を突然舞台に呼び出す。
 
それから、私は口を閉じて、手を丸めて、へたりこむ。
うめき声とジェスチャーだけで母親とコミュニケーションしながら、服を脱がしてもらうようにうながす。
 
戸惑う母と、うめきながら服を脱がしてもらう私のコミュニケーションの姿をパフォーマンスとした。
 
兄の病死による家族の喪失感から、それまでの「家族」の形が失われ、家族として与えられる役割の不確かさを感じていた私は、このパフォーマンスを通じて、それらを乗り越えて「家族」である前の「人間と人間」として出会い直せないかと思った。
 
 

 

Performed at the Nippon International Performance Art Festival. 
 
Dressed in a suit, I stood on the stage and talked about my memories of my family. Then, I suddenly called my mother, who came to see my performance, up on the stage. After that, I closed my mouth, curled my hands, and collapsed to the ground. 
Using only groans and gestures, I urged her to take off my clothes. She was embarrassed and confused, even hesitated at first, but she eventually undressed me. My groans, her hesitation, and our awkward physical interaction became the performance itself. It reflects the communication of my family.
 
At the time, I had been struggling with the loss of my older brother, who had passed away from illness five years earlier. He was 19, and I was 15.  Since then, my family had been in deep grief, and the idea of what a “family” is started to feel unclear and shaky to me. When I did this performance, I was 19, the same age my brother was when he died. I wanted to try to change something in my family.
Through this piece, I wanted to look at our relationship not just as family, but as two people, human to human.And at that moment, something did change. Maybe it still is.