Lily Field (2011)
Installation sculpture: Tracing paper, Bamboo sticks : Sight specific : Origami


(installation view)

Lily Field is an on-going charity art project for Japan Tsunami Appeal.
On 11th March 2011, Japan was hit by earthquakes and tsunami which destroyed the wider part of northern part of the main island. The pictures from the news show the empty space in the middle of nowhere, which seems like a burned-out area.

According to NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Japan's Cabinet Office says more than 124,000 people were displaced by the March 11th disaster and the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The office says the displaced were living in more than 1,000 municipalities across the country as of June 2nd.More than 41,000 were in emergency shelters, and about 32,500 were living with relatives and friends. Around 50,000 were living outside the 3 hardest-hit prefectures --- Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. Nearly 80 percent of them were from Fukushima. The figure released by the Cabinet Office well surpasses the data compiled by police. The police say about 84,000 displaced people were living in 21 prefectures as of Monday. Japan’s recovery from this disaster will take many years. The idea for this project is to create the hand-crafted lilies to fill the empty space to visualize the kind support that we have given in this last three-months.

The Artist sold handcrafted origami lily brooches at several different fundraising events. For a small donation visitors could purchase an origami lily brooches, and the money raised went directly to aid those in Japan; Red Cross and Second Harvest. So far 101 brooches have been sold, with two lilies on each brooch. The idea for this project is to fill the empty space with handcrafted origami lilies, as a visual representation of the support I have been offering, and the lily field consists of 202 flowers, the same number I have sold as part of my fundraising efforts.

Events include;

Northampton high street charity event supported by Red Cross,
Graveney School (www.graveney.org)
Art/Unity/Hope: An Art Event to Support the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund at City&Guilds of London Art School (http://www.cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk/art_unity_hope/)

Special thanks to: Mitsuyo Matsunaga, Aishah Miho Matsunaga, Michika Matsunaga


(installation view)