Humans are beautiful because they are ugly | Interview with Yuka Emi #5

The "Jidai no Hazama Exhibition vol. 4" was held last month.
We are publishing the artist interview conducted during the exhibition.
This time, it is an interview with Yuka Emi.
In a dialogue format with the organizer, we delved into the origins of her creative work.

Click here for the previous interview👇

The trigger for starting to create "meat"

───Ms. Emi, you have been winning awards in competitions in the Kansai region and are an artist who is truly demonstrating your ability. What did you associate with the theme "Our Friends" this time?

Emi (titles omitted below): I interpreted "friends" as "a collection of people who have something in common somewhere." From there, I associated it with the fact that if you peel off human skin, we are all the same meat, and realized that all of humanity are friends. So, I exhibited works created with meat as the subject.

───Ms. Emi, you have been presenting works with "meat" as a subject for some time. What led you to start focusing on "meat"?

Emi: When I started working as an artist, I first delved into my inner self to see what kind of expression I wanted to create. I have always liked horror movies and gory films, so I had this desire to make that kind of unpleasantness look cool as an art piece.
I like the ugly parts of humans that they don't want others to see. To put it very simply, like the messy drama of a daytime soap opera. I think that is what makes us human because we have those parts. If we didn't have that, it would be like being a robot, or just a pretty facade. The very first thing was that I wanted to express that kind of chaotic unpleasantness and the beauty of human ugliness.

───So you first delved into your inner self and decided to express the messy parts of humans.

Emi: That's right. I had the desire to create based on "meat," but regarding the form, I shaped it while asking myself what kind of image in my head would look cool. If I thought of something that would look cool, I would make a note of it. From there, I would think about trying to make it or combining it with something else, and that's how I do it.

Emi: Also, speaking of things that influenced me, my father was active as an artist for a period, so when I was a child, I was taken to art museums outside the prefecture, such as the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, more often than to amusement parks. So, the accumulation of my childhood memories might be influencing my production.

───"part of role" is a work shaped like clothing, but since you were in the fashion field, did you have strong feelings about clothing? I'm also curious about how you made it.

Emi: It was unconscious. I don't know, but maybe I was influenced without realizing it. For this, I hardened existing T-shirts and dress shirts with plaster and then soaked them in resin to solidify them. I then colored them with paint on top of that.

The cruelty of time passing by

───"moratorium" is a work with meat wrapped around a handrail, which is an interesting idea unlike any other. How did this come about?

Emi: I thought of this when I was going through a tough time mentally. People grab onto something when they are about to fall, right? A normal handrail doesn't feel warm, but I thought that if it were meat, it might feel warm. The title "moratorium" means a "pause period" for growth during adolescence. You might be able to pause if you grab onto a handrail, but meat is a raw material and it rots, doesn't it? It's not quite irony, but I thought it would be interesting if I could express with meat that my own time is stopped while the time around me is passing. As a result, the form also became something interesting.

───Handrails are things to grab onto, but this work contains instability, doesn't it? Your explanation just now made a lot of sense to me.

Articulating one's work is also the artist's responsibility

Emi: I haven't really articulated my work in words until now, but I believe that properly explaining one's work is also one of the responsibilities of an artist. Actually, I am currently participating in and studying at an artist statement workshop held by an artist who is active overseas. I should dig deeper into my own inner self, and at the same time, I want to be able to convey those thoughts properly. I think that by doing so, I will be able to create even better work.

---You are adding depth and substance to your work through both axes: improving your production techniques and deepening your self-understanding. However, I think your strength, Emi, is that people can understand your work through their senses, feeling that it is 'good' even without an explanation.

---Previously, I went to see your work titled "crowd" at the "FLAG2024" competition at Atelier Sangatsu. When I saw it in images, I thought it was a cool, metallic piece. But when I saw it in person, I could feel the softness of the drapes on the surface, and the shapes I thought were spiky started to look like cute, sparkling pieces. At that moment, I found it incredibly endearing (laughs). I think the best part of your work is how it appeals directly to the emotions of the viewer.

Emi: Thank you very much. I will do my best.

---I will continue to support you. Thank you very much.

Interviewer: Yuma Kawaguchi

Click here for Yuka Emi's Instagram👇

Click here for the next interview👇
Scheduled for release on 10/22!