Meet the Community – Huhtamaki Wab
Huhtamaki Wab
WABA WABA WABA POMPAKLEEN
PEE-KARA PEE-KARA WASHI WABA
CHOB CHOB POMPAKLEEN
CHON CHON BUBUCHON WABA WABA
CUCUMBER
Huhtamaki Wab’s practice operates within an animistic and non-anthropocentric world where interconnected spirits and humans populate landscapes to create ecstatic realities. Complex entanglements between persons and landscapes create a rich ecology of non-hierarchical relations. These depictions are situated within the lineage of representations of animistic belief from his birthplace of Japan, in wide-reaching references from contemporary manga to ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period. Wab's mixed heritage offers connection with themes of unbelonging and explores this often complex and difficult space through humour, play and radical ownership of semantic material within the work. They also look and reflect upon personal experiences of hearing voices and addiction, acting not only as a critically engaged practice but also a means for recovery and relearning. A part of this relearning is resisting and decolonising ways of looking and seeing, manifest in ways of understanding these personal experiences and the way we collectively view the myriad of life-worlds around us.
Born in Tokyo, 1984, Graduated Chelsea College of Arts, 2008. Lives and works in Cornwall, UK
Private Studio
10.30pm - 10.40pm 22/3/2027
