Ms Ayano Hattori

Research project: Memory, narrative, and the gaze in Japan after 2011

Abstract

My research investigates photographic perception of the Internet and digital era in the context of the post-colonial center- periphery relationship imposed on Fukushima and Okinawa, the symbolic Japanese cities of post-war pacifism and economic development. With conceptual engagements between the act of looking and media (performance, digital photography and video) in my studio practice, I aim to reveal underlying disjunction and detachment towards Fukushima and Okinawa created by the dynamics of positionality in post-3.11 Japanese society rather than confrontational compassionate sentiments.

My studio-practice is parts of my art practice, Fukushima Mon Amour(2012-), in allusion to Alain Resnais's Hiroshima mon amour(1959) and Chris Maker's Level Five(1997):

You Saw Nothing in Fukushima(2012-2018) embodies the hypocritical apathetic gaze of the outsiders towards the trauma of Fukushima, and discusses their voyeurism and intactness.

I Told Our Story(2018) explores positionalities and memories in Okinawa intertwined by the Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.

Biography

I am an artist, researcher and educator and am currently in my second year of my study. I have lived and worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Okinawa for the last 10 years. The main medium of my art for the last several years has been performance-based video and photography. However, I still practice painting and drawing. I'm running an artist-in-residence, Conceptual Serenity for Incomplete Desire (CSID), in Japan from 2020. This is also an architectural project of translating my language of painting and drawing into an architectural space. I'm also interested in curating and collaborating as well. My recent solo exhibitions include Fukushima Mon Amour: You Saw Nothing in Fukushima (Pure Art Foundation, Hong Kong, 2016) and Ayano Hattori: Intimate Strangers (Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore, 2013).

Areas of research interest

  • Video
  • Photography
  • Post-3.11 Japan
  • Centre--periphery relationship
  • Gaze
  • Memory
  • Internet
  • Film
  • Okinawa
  • Performativity

Qualifications

  • MA in Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
  • BFA in Painting, Musashino Art University, Tokyo
  • Teaching Certificate for Japanese as a second language, Human Academy , Tokyo
  • Teaching Certificate for Visual Arts and Crafts in Japanese school system, Musashino Art University, Tokyo

Funding or awards received

  • Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists (2018-2019)
  • The Dr. Winston Oh Travel Research Awards
  • The Top 108 Artists of Art Takes Miami 2011