Artist Statement

Reality is either what is now appearing in front of us as fact, or what constrains and defines the events experienced by individual subjects through the ideas circulating outside, or the primary field that is the basis for such events. The human brain is said to be biologically wired to respond to stories, and tends to intervene with stories to deal with reality as it appears in fragments. A story is primarily a prose, rhymed, or written account of a person or incident. When telling the story of a specific incident, the aspect of the story varies greatly depending on whether the narrator is a party directly involved in the incident or a third party, and whether the party is the perpetrator or the victim. The term “perpetrator” refers to a person who has committed an act of harm against another person, and is used in a variety of situations, including bullying, various types of harassment, crimes, accidents, and other problems between individuals, social problems such as pollution, and international human rights and historical issues such as discrimination, war, and colonial rule. The person harmed is called the victim, but the boundary between perpetrator and victim is sometimes blurred because the harm can be extensive. Those who died suddenly in wars, accidents, disasters, etc.; those who died with strong feelings of resentment or hatred; or those who are unaware that they have completed their commitment to suicide. Such cases may result in remaining in the land or building where they were when they died because they cannot accept or understand that they have already died and may become ‘jibakurei’ spirits. A jibakurei is a person who remains in the realm of life and clings to it even though he or she is in a situation where he or she should move to the realm of death, because of their adherence to life. Adherence is the persistent insistence on one’s own opinions, and a strong adherence by not only the dead, but also the living, promotes the transformation into a jibakurei, and the person is bound to thoughts, things, people, places, etc., and is stuck in a situation of a critical juncture. Although there is a question as to whether there can be “pure” victims, since the story presents different aspects depending on the narrator’s position, the victim is transformed into the perpetrator by becoming a jibakurei. In such cases, the targets of the perpetrator are not limited to others, but are very broad in scope, including himself/herself. Listening refers to the art of conversation in which one “listens” with acceptance and empathy without denying what the other person is saying, and is necessary in various situations such as business, medicine, and social life. Similarly, the ability to listen to the thoughts and feelings of the dead through psychic listening is also necessary. For both the living and the dead to be freed from their obsession, a person who accepts stories while maintaining a passive attitude in listening and spirit listening is needed. Those who kill their ego and become the recipients of others’ stories can probably be the “pure” victims.

Hiroko Komatsu