REVIEW: Far from the deep forest
In September 22 – 29, 2004, an exhibition of drawings, paintings and collage works by Aki Sahoko attracted a diverse auidence of artists, scholars and others in southern Osaka (“Far from the deep forest” at the Sho Gallery (1F Tojo Building 2 – 10 – 30 Minamisenba, Chuo ward Osaka, tel. 06 6245 7117).
The exhibition title reflected the artists interests in present connections with nature and with the past: in contrast to the forest dwelling peoples of the Jomon period in Japan, we are now far in both space and time from intimate relationships with the natural world.
For many reasons, the first ten thousand years or so of modern-human history in Japan are largely invisible - especially for foreign visitors to this country. Very little Japanese archaeology is presented to general audiences in anything other than Japanese.
Foreign travellers who have been lucky enough to stumble upon a local museum with Jomon artefacts may have enjoyed some enlightenment through the efforst of the artists employed to show how archaeologists think Jomon people lived. Aki is one of those artists, and her work is found in many museums around Japan. Her technical approaches range from tonally refined pencil and charcoal drawings to coloued paintings and collages incorporating ceramic figures and natural objects.
As this retrospective exhibition showed, Aki is not just an artist working for archaeologists. The cumulative effect of the works displayed in the gallery had the synergistic effect of suggesting a richness and diversity in Jomon life that is in stark contrast to the impression - given in many local museum displays - that the Jomon people were primitive cave dwellers leading simple lives with few technical skills beyond those needed to hunt bears, dig yams and gather berries.
Aki’s work - developed in consulation with archaeologists - is not immune from the limitations of archaeological interpretation. There is a curious uniformity in facial forms and costuming that may reflect this to some extent. Where Aki excels is in creating Breugel-like scenes of villages at work and at play. These challenge archaeologists and viewers to think about Jomon people as people: social and emotional beings with much more to think about than merely creating the tools, pottery and houses that form the stuff of archaeology. The artist also challenges us all to think about more than just the stuff that dominates modern urban life.
This does not mean that the artist thinks poorly of the material world. Aki has linked her artistic imagination to archaeological stuff, and natural objects, and portrays them in loving detail. She has also linked her work to the necessary academic debates that surround the stuff, and faces a challenge in the sheer enormity of the Jomon archaeological record, a record generated by tens of thousands of excavations by thousands of archaeologists operating at the cutting edges of Japan’s nationwide construction boom. These challenges create tensions that must be both daunting and inspiring for the artist - for this artist and for the many artists that work around the edges of archaeology.
This exhibition was held in a gallery that usually displays ceramic work. Many of the drawings were laid out on plain wooden benches, creating a feast for the eyes in a position that we naturally associate with feasting. An alternative title for the exhibition could have been "Last supper of the Jomon caveman".
A catalogue of Aki’s more personal and recent works accompanied the exhibition and can be obtained by contacting the artist (reviewed by P. J. Matthews, Sept. 2004).