Artwork Description
Eri Imamura – Fusion: Eagle
Dimensions: 23.5 x 23.5 x 2.75″ on panel / 21.5 x 21.5 x 2″
Year: 2025
Medium: Seed beads, cut beads, 24k gold beads, antique Japanese Kimono, wood, stuffing
“Fusion: Eagle” is a female torso sculpture portrayed from the back, seated in Zen meditation praying. This piece serves as the inaugural work of the Trinity Art Project, created as a paired counterpart to another work titled “Fission: Eagle.”
This piece reflects my personal journey returning from New Mexico—a grand land where I lived for five years to learn from the Native people, honing my artistic practice. At the same time, it acknowledges a darker history: this very land marks the birthplace of the nuclear age and Ground Zero.
Depicted on the torso is the Japanese mythological warrior, Ushiwaka Saburo Yoshitora. In folklore, he is portrayed as a heroic master of flight and sorcery who is accompanied by a giant eagle—a divine messenger bringing heaven and earth—and wields supernatural powers. Here, his image serves as a symbol of mystical strength, valor, and traditional Japanese heritage.
Guided by this divine eagle, Yoshitora travels across vast distances and time to visit the land where nuclear weapons were first created, standing against destruction and evil. He carries with him the beauty of Japan—symbolized by floating cherry blossoms—to meet the breathtaking Native landscape of New Mexico. In this narrative, the traditional Japanese hero overlaps with the spirit of the Native American warrior, bound by shared motifs of the sacred eagle, the bow and arrow, and an unyielding bravery. Through this synthesis, I celebrate the convergence of two profound indigenous traditions.
Symbolism is embedded throughout the form. The right side features a traditional Japanese pine tree and a motif evoking the Japanese flag. The left side captures the native southwestern landscape with cactuses, flowers, adobes, and the New Mexico state flag. At the top (the nape of the neck), I incorporated the radiation symbol and my own interpretation of the Trinity Site’s triangular monument.
As the opening chapter of the Trinity Art Project alongside its counterpart “Fission: Eagle”, “Fusion: Eagle” confronts both the history of science and the legacy of nuclear power by weaving a new narrative of connection—where the dawn of the atomic age gives way to a profound cultural fusion of Japanese and Native American souls.