Artwork Description
Eri Imamura – Numb
Dimensions: 35.75 x 26.75 x 6.75″ on panel / 32.25 x 24.5 x 4″
Year: 2022
Medium: seed beads, cut beads, 24k gold beads, antique Japanese kimono, stuffing on wood panel
During the COVID lock down, people were prohibited to have physical contact. We were limited to touch or to feel each other. This situation made people feel numb because they could not use their full human senses for the first time in their lives.
This piece is a female half body torso with a fancy coat. It depicts a traditional Japanese bride on the left and a contemporary manga bride on the right reaching out to each other with their hands. It is the moment the Japanese girls in history and the girls in contemporary worlds are touching each other. Their bodies are dressed up with beautiful bride costumes above and with smoke thought bubbles head below. The traditional bride wears a black kimono with our sacred traditional bird, the crane, which was common for the Samurai class in the past. The bubble says “Feel what worth dying for” with a human heart. At that time, women in Samurai class would be prepared for death any time. On the contemporary side, her bubble says “Know what worth living for” with a human brain. The two bodies are also reaching out to each other. On the left arm there is a corset, a mouth eating a love drug, and a corona virus below. On the right arm there is a perfume bottle, a mouth eating a drug, and a nuclear radiation icon below. These imply that humans now become numb to feel or know the truth of reality just like being drugged.