2nd Place, Shinya Masuda, Japan

HANAFUDA SHOUZOKU

When I was a child, my grandmother said ‘Anything with a shape will eventually be gone’, and what she told me has remained in my mind to this day. Back then, I had no doubt that some things would definitely last forever.

There is a Buddhist term, ‘Shogyo Mujyo’. ‘Shogyo’ means every bit of every phenomenon in this world, and ‘Mujyo’ means nothing lasts as it is, and constantly changes.

Memory has no physical form. People rely on material things when they recall their memories. But anything with a shape will eventually be gone.
As a result, memories live on forever in their minds.

The idea of this work came to me when I found rotten food inside a box that my mother had sent me from my hometown. I felt so sorry when I thought of my mother’s affection towards me.
The process of a food rotting and losing its form is taken for granted, but I strongly felt that I want to express my mother’s love in some kind of form.
I portrayed the rotten food as the dead soul and chose one of the Japanese card games ‘HANAFUDA’ as a dress (SHOUZOKU) to send off the dead.

The reason I chose ‘HANAFUDA’ is that I often played ‘HANAFUDA’ with my grandmother who actually taught me the concept of ‘Shogyo Mujyo’. It is a tribute to my wonderful grandmother