“What we inherit” is an artistic exploration of legacy, culture and tradition through my Japanese heritage. Using kimonos and scrapbooks that my grandparents left behind from the 1930-60s, the photographic montages represent a family’s memories and emotions that have been passed down, but are also slowly fading.
My grandmother, a lover of luxury despite the family’s financial struggles in postwar Japan, continued to commission exquisite kimonos. Many were crafted from fine silk and adorned with intricate embroidery that are specific to that time. It was perhaps her means of self-expression or how she defined her place in society. Forty years after her passing, what is left of her inheritance has traveled with me to America.
My grandfather, a television producer in Japan’s early broadcast era, was a devoted documentarian of his own life. His meticulously compiled scrapbooks, with photographs of himself and his family, reveal glimpses of a rapidly modernizing society. Though he passed away years before I was born, his visual records have passed on pieces of his life to me.
My image-making process involves photographing the kimonos during mushiboshi, a tradition of airing the fabric during the dry months. The garments are photographed in natural light and merged with scanned archival photographs. In layering photographs and textiles, I aim to visualize the layers of time and meaning we carry within us.
Storytelling, particularly across generations, is an act of care. It allows us to tether ourselves to something larger than our individual lives. It helps us make sense of who we are and where we come from. By bridging the past and present, this project seeks to preserve one’s tangible history, and reimagine its place in today's digital culture.
