Parallel Lines

Rooted on personal experience that having moved back and forth between the city and the rural frequently and the transformation of her roles; from an artist to a part-time worker at the office, a temporary receptionist, a young girl from a city or even just stranger, Yamada made three pieces of work about switching the roles and the characters and their dependence on each place.

Masking tapes cut into the shapes of two roads; the left is one in front of Yamada’s house in Tokyo, and the other is the one located in front of the venue this work exhibited.

Both shapes were taken from a map and transformed into the form of the lines in traffic signs.

Other Roles consists of selected second-hand novels written in the first person and single lines drawn beside sentences which mean “I did something.” on those books. The books are set in pairs based on the emotions or the situations in each sentence.

Other Roles focuses on multiple layered identifies which are appeared during reading novels. Novels written in the first person make their readers identify with the protagonist. Meanwhile, when they are second-hand books, marks and lines written on them by the former readers might convey their follower readers the part of the former readers’ emotion. Referring to these process of assimilation, Yamada presents the experience to read second-hand novels as a curious movement of self in between multiple ”I”.

Walking with My Temperatureshows a walking person while pouring hot water with a kettle to the ground.

Steam rises from the trace of the hot water and it forms a band for a while.

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