Artwork Description
Eri Imamura – Fission: Eagle
Dimensions: 25.5 x 25.5 x 2.75″ on panel / 23.25 x 23.25 x 2″
Year: 2026
Medium: Seed beads, cut beads, 24k gold beads, antique Japanese Kimono, wood, stuffing
Eri Imamura – Fission: Eagle
Dimensions: 23.5 x 23.5 x 2.75″ on panel / 23.25 x 23.25 x 2″
Year: 2026
Medium: Seed beads, cut beads, 24k gold beads, antique Japanese Kimono, wood, stuffing
“Fission: Eagle” is a male torso sculpture seated in Zen meditation praying, created as the companion piece to “Fusion: Eagle” for the Trinity Art Project. This work reflects my journey back to New Mexico—a grand land where I lived for five years to learn from the Native people, returning nearly two decades after moving back to Japan. At the same time, it directly confronts the history of this land as Ground Zero, the birthplace of the atomic age forged through the force of nuclear fission.
At the center, a sacred Giant Eagle—a mythic figure embodying both Japanese and Native American spiritualities—is flanked by the Sun and Moon, inscribed with the Sanskrit characters (Siddham) for Nikko Bosatsu (Suryaprabha) and Gekko Bosatsu (Candraprabha)—the Buddhist deities of solar and lunar light. These celestial forces embody the dual harmony of Yin and Yang, while echoing the legend of the Hero Twins in indigenous mythos. This legend forms a universal archetype shared across Indigenous traditions throughout both North and South America. In these traditions, lightning is the formidable weapon wielded by the Hero Twins, born to restore balance to the world. The Native American brothers depicted here represent the modern Native brothers I know today—the living descendants who carry forward the enduring spirit of these legendary twins. Here, the lightning strikes with a dual meaning: it bridges the mythic power of the brothers with the physical force of nuclear fission—two immense powers, one primordial and one scientific, overlapping in a single electric flash. Through this motif, the physical concept of fission—the splitting of an atom to release immense power—intertwines with mythic duality, symbolizing both destructive force and the power to vanquish evil.
Answering this sacred geography, the right leg features Shiprock—the monumental rock formation cradling the nest of the Giant Eagle in local legend—while the knees bear the flags of Japan and New Mexico, anchoring my personal journey and the deep bond between these two lands. On the nape, the Trinity radiation symbol is etched, serving as a silent mark of the nuclear age carried upon the body.
At the base, the explosive blast of the Trinity test radiates outward with powerful blast winds. Enveloping a deer family—father, mother, and child—adorned with Shinto shide streamers who embody the sacred passing of life across generations, these toxic yellow winds portray the devastating impact of uranium mining in New Mexico, exposing the tragedy inflicted upon sacred wildlife and the health of Indigenous communities. Scattered throughout are green motifs of Trinitite, rendered with genuine uranium glass beads whose eerie glow physically attests to the ongoing scars of the nuclear age.
Where “Fusion: Eagle” embodies the force of unification, “Fission: Eagle” illuminates the very act of splitting into two—a physical division that gives birth to the dual powers of Yin and Yang and mirrors the lineage of the Hero Twins. Interweaving Indigenous mythos with the physical reality of the atomic age, it seeks universal balance while bearing witness to the land’s enduring scars.