おばあちゃん (Grandma)
Mirai Nemoto Nilsson, 2023
Measures: A5
Technique: Digitally edited photos and scans from analogue watercolour artwork
A person’s internal world is like a garden. In my internal world, my grandmother’s photos of flowers represent a joyful and nurturing part of the garden. My grandmother lives in Fukushima prefecture which is located in the region of Tohoku (Japan) and I live in Gothenburg (Sweden). We usually communicate via LINE (instant communication application) and it is our way of staying connected with each other. Despite a Japanese-English language barrier and having a long-distance grandparent-grandchild relationship, we have cultivated a unique bond through our shared love of flowers. As an artist, I express my inner thoughts, feelings and emotions through drawing and painting abstract floral motifs, whereas my grandmother expresses herself by capturing and sending photos of flowers based on places she goes and discovers in Tohoku. My grandmother’s photos not only enable me to get a glimpse of her daily-life in Japan, but also her inner world of flowers. Although we don’t often meet in-person, I would say that my grandmother and I connect in a world that goes beyond the digital and physical realm. We meet in the spiritual realm of an ever present garden of flowers, which I have attempted to express in the form of an experimental and image-based zine.
Mirai Nemoto Nilsson, 2023
Measures: A5
Technique: Digitally edited photos and scans from analogue watercolour artwork
A person’s internal world is like a garden. In my internal world, my grandmother’s photos of flowers represent a joyful and nurturing part of the garden. My grandmother lives in Fukushima prefecture which is located in the region of Tohoku (Japan) and I live in Gothenburg (Sweden). We usually communicate via LINE (instant communication application) and it is our way of staying connected with each other. Despite a Japanese-English language barrier and having a long-distance grandparent-grandchild relationship, we have cultivated a unique bond through our shared love of flowers. As an artist, I express my inner thoughts, feelings and emotions through drawing and painting abstract floral motifs, whereas my grandmother expresses herself by capturing and sending photos of flowers based on places she goes and discovers in Tohoku. My grandmother’s photos not only enable me to get a glimpse of her daily-life in Japan, but also her inner world of flowers. Although we don’t often meet in-person, I would say that my grandmother and I connect in a world that goes beyond the digital and physical realm. We meet in the spiritual realm of an ever present garden of flowers, which I have attempted to express in the form of an experimental and image-based zine.