Asako Fujikura
Where would “paradise” be hiding in a contemporary city
Behind the Mountains / Tire Tracker
Commentary
Have you ever imagined what might be behind the scenery you see all the time? Once, communities used to believe that paradise or the world of the dead lay behind the mountains that towered over the area.
Some of these were considered to be physical places, while others were worlds that only existed in the human imagination.
Asako Fujikura was born and raised in the city suburbs, where huge distribution centers and shopping malls dominate the landscape.
She says that even in the landscapes created by modern cities, there is born a tiny faith that unconsciously reminds us of “behind the mountains.” The sign for a shallow beach can be glimpsed from among gigantic infrastructure like expressways and construction sites.
The faint lingering images of landscapes like this reminds people of modern-day paradises, she says.
Moreover, Fujikura focuses on car tires, which move constantly every day, and defines their existence as “something seen as a medium to achieve an end.” However, tires are sometimes just left abandoned by houses or in the corners of fields.
Fujikura has collected tires from all over the country that have been removed from vehicles, presenting them as “in the midst of achieving their goal.” There might be a “behind the mountains” or “tires in the midst” in your own necks of the woods.
Profile
Asako Fujikura
Born in 1992. Graduated from the Department of New Media, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Creates video works that use a 3D CG animation method, focusing on the infrastructure and logistics of cities and suburbs. Selected for the 2022 Project to Support Emerging Media Arts Creators by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.
