200 People Stitch Poems Written Behind Prison Walls
Yoshinari Nishio has created works themed on activities and communication related to clothing and fashion, focusing on relationships between people and society. This exhibition features a work created by embroidering poems written by young inmates at the former Nara Juvenile Prison, a collaborative effort involving over 200 people.
As someone born and raised in Nara, I am profoundly honored to be involved in an exhibition at this meaningful location. For this project, I conceived an artwork that embroiders the poetic words left behind by the inmates, intertwining them into fabric together with the hands of the local community. It is an attempt to stay close to the memories of the former Nara Juvenile Prison and to re-weave the thoughts carved into that space into the contemporary era. By layering times of dialogue and handiwork onto a place that was once closed off, I have brought this single piece to life.
Artist / Contemporary Artist. Born 1982 in Nara Prefecture. Focuses on the relationship between the act of dressing and communication, mainly using clothing as a medium. He develops collaborative projects with citizens and students both in Japan and overseas. After serving as an Overseas Research Fellow for the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Nairobi, Kenya) and an Associate Professor at Nara Prefectural University, he is currently a Professor at the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts.
