Namae Myoji - I'll give you a name -
May 25(Sat) - June 14(Fri), 2024
N project
N project is pleased to present “I’ll give you a name,” a solo exhibition by Namae Myoji, from May 25 (Sat) to June 14 (Fri), 2024.
Namae Myoji, born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1987, graduated from the Oil Painting Course within the Department of Painting of Tokyo University of the Arts Faculty of Fine Arts in 2019. In the same year, Myoji entered the Master’s Program of the Oil Painting Course within the Department of Painting of Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts, and voluntarily left the Master’s Program in 2022. Inspired by first-hand experiences since childhood, Myoji’s form of expression is mainly installation work that explores the female body, gender, and identity, in relation with issues surrounding the consumption of such themes.
In recent years, Myoji has been creating works that raise questions about the way the female gender exists and how it’s consumed in actual society, by shedding light on classic literature pieces, such as novels and plays, and replacing the female character of the story as the narrator, as an attempt to reconstruct the entire literature piece. Myoji’s work titled “Babel and Utopia,” which was exhibited in last year’s SICF23 (Spiral Independent Creators Festival 2023) Grand Prize Artist Exhibition held in Tokyo, was inspired by the epic, “The Metamorphoses” by Roman poet, Ovid. In this video installation, which mimicked a stage set, Myoji succeeded in sharply etching the gender consciousness internalized in the social structure, which has continued to exist since the dawn of the human species until today.
This exhibition titled “I’ll give you a name” examines the intention of “categorizing” or “differentiating” through the act of naming. The installations based on flower motifs are Myoji’s attempts to visualize the process of how people are shaped into or forced into certain identities that are based on the common perspective of how one “should be,” and that have been implanted in the unconscious mind by the existing social structure.
In an attempt to expose the multi-layered social norms that lay deep in the subconscious mind, not only regarding gender but also sexuality, age, and so forth, Myoji uses everyday motifs, such as children’s toys, stuffed animals, and furniture. This is an expression that Myoji has been passionately pursuing in these recent years. Through this expression, Myoji suggests that the home or family, which is the minimum unit of society, is also one of the mechanisms that surrounds the individual, almost like a cage, and corrects them into conforming to social norms.
In the statement for the piece, “Babel and Utopia,” Myoji raises the following question: “Upon living in the real world, is it possible to not conflict with, nor surrender to others who seem difficult to reach a mutual understanding with, and at the same time, not marginalize one another and co-exist?” This question itself is the message that is consistent through Myoji’s works. In all of Myoji’s works, there have always existed the others on the other side, those who have been fragmented by the boundaries set by social standards. Through this exhibition, the viewer will be led to acknowledge those others who have been marginalized or made invisible, and labeled as “non-standard” in comparison with the existing social norms. We welcome all to take this opportunity to visit Myoji’s unique world.
ARTIST
DATE
February 17(Sat) - March 8(Fri), 2024 Hours: Weekday 10:00-17:00 Saturday 11:00-18:00 *Closed on Sundays and National Holidays
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