Windows: PVC sheet, acrylic paint 79 x79 cm, 18 panels

Hand made flowers: wire, Japanese paper

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This work was part of the exhibition ‘Complex Topografy: Movement and Change’ at the  Ritsurin Garden (Takamatsu, Japan) for the Setouchi Triennale 2016, and developed within the Global Art Joint Curriculum 2016 between Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London and Tokyo University of the Arts.

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Hybrid Paradise is a collaboration by 3 artists from Japan, the United States and Spain. As you approach the corner of the hallway, you will see a vase containing handmade flowers that represent the places that each artist has called home: a bright red hibiscus symbolizes the islands of Hawaii, a deep purple iris personifies backyard gardens in America, and a multi-coloured strelitzia reflects the tropical vibrancy of the Canary Islands.

In paintings displayed in the windows, the artists have taken random elements of the three flowers and combined them together in a new way. The results are ‘hybrid flowers’ – curious creations that the artists never would have imagined on their own but are able to visualize collaboratively.

The work asks us an essential question: Can we, through cultural integration and exchange, cooperation, respect, and understanding, create things that we may have never imagines possible? Can we strive to create more ‘hybrid flowers’ around the world?
 

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