One of the few truths which nowadays still hold is that of the universal nature of the aging process -- it happens to all of us. The question of how we as individuals and as a society are to respond to this inevitable fact of life is as old as humanity itself. For most of us, it is through our parents that we first come into more intimate contact with this issue; the many forms of our response to this question reflect our diversity as human beings. Tatsumi Orimoto, with the consent of his mother, shows us her everyday life as an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease, depressions -- and from the side-effects of medications, such as, for example, poor and uneven hearing. In a society which increasingly reduces aging to its negative aspects, Orimoto places his mother at the center of his artistic preocuppations. In photography, videos and performance-like, "staged" work, he makes public his life with his mother. Here there is no denial or ignoring of aging. Orimoto presents us, in a very poignant and human way, the story of their life together. Himself no longer in the flower of youth, he demonstrates a great familial bond, an exceptional concern for his mothers well-being. With masterful control of his expressive means, he presents not only a documentation of the shared experience of two people, but also a reflection on "being human".
ART MAMA - IN THE BOX bis 02.09.2001 in Berlin
Small mama Big shoes
Bread-Man in the museum
Heavy newspapers on my mother's head
I pull to my mother's ear by my foot finger
Walking in a street while wearing a carton box on my foot
TATSUMI ORIMOTO
Art Work International TOKYO
tel/Fax 0044-333-0271
