Michiko Yao

View::Habitus

Habitus is a sculptural installation transferred to the web for Viralnet.net's 'Home and Garden' project.

The work consists of many quasi-botanical specimens in glass jars placed in a laboratory setting. These specimens are fabricated from artificial flower parts and soaked in tinted liquid. The flesh-colored specimens imply a human body. The words on each Jar’s label specify a Japanese sub/underground culture, a person immersed in such cultures, or Japanese social phenomenon resulting from social repression. Florescent backlight causes these specimens to glow and they appear to be distorted by the preserving liquid in the tube shaped jars. In this work, these botanical specimens are a metaphor of the Japanese peoples’ fantasies, which are the result of the conflict between Japan’s traditional social structure and globalization in the contemporary era.