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Mika Nakamura-Mather

The Floating Word

Emily Wakeling
Eyeline 88
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The exhibition’s title, The Floating Word, riffs on the commonly known Japanese concept of ‘the floating world’, which refers to the leisure culture of wealthy society in the prosperous Edo period (1603-1868). But here, the euphemism is slightly altered and utilised by artist Mika Nakamura-Mather to refer to the floating, drifting nature of her memories of her childhood home in Japan. It has been over a quarter of a century since she left Japan, and despite her memories waning, her ‘sense of belonging [to that home] is growing stronger’.1

Positioned in the centre of the exhibition, resting above a low table on five tatami(bamboo mats), are words that appear to literally float inside a set of four masu (wooden sake cups). These floating texts mark the four seasons in antithetical sets; for example, the English word ‘winter’ is paired with the Japanese character for summer, in reference to the difference in hemispheres between Japan and Australia. The cups prompt an immediate empathy with the bi-lingual and bi-cultural experience, in which one’s mother tongue (and mother land) remains a reference but can also fade into the background with time.

Telescoping (the tyranny of distance)(2015-16) are multiple text works framed by cylindrical ‘lenses’ made from bamboo. By looking closely through the bamboo frames, a viewer can read, in English and Japanese, short phrases representing impressions of the artist’s first home. The texts represent the four seasons through the five senses, such as ‘the smell of spring rain’, or ‘wind chimes in the evening’, and the ‘touch of tatami mats’. A viewer must carefully approach each frame, one-by-one, to view the text, demanding a certain amount of time to appreciate

Mika Nakamura-Mather,Telescoping (the tyranny of distance), 2015-2016

Mika Nakamura-Mather,Telescoping (the tyranny of distance), 2015-2016. Japanese indigenous bamboo, kyogi paper, natural Japanese mineral pigments, ink, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

Mika Nakamura-Mather,Telescoping (the tyranny of distance), 2015-2016

Mika Nakamura-Mather,Telescoping (the tyranny of distance), 2015-2016. Japanese indigenous bamboo, kyogi paper, natural Japanese mineral pigments, ink, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.