Hirosaki, Aomori Pref. ¨C Sachiko Kazama wants to tell you a dark fairy tale about Japan¡¯s relentless modernization. This story has knights, robots, nuclear warships and flourishes of opera and classical literature. And it doesn¡¯t end well.
An unflinching satirist, Kazama has made a name for herself delivering sharp political messages through her art. In 2018, for instance, amid excitement for the 2020 Tokyo Games, she made a dystopian woodcut print about the Olympics with fascist iconography and images of state violence, including uniformed soldiers marching and people being bulldozed off a highway ¡ª a reference to the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics that saw homeless people relocated and working-class neighborhoods eradicated.
That gigantic masterpiece, titled ¡°Dyslympics 2680,¡± is among more than 60 works including new and site-specific pieces currently on display at the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art in Aomori Prefecture, part of ¡°,¡± a retrospective surveying her nearly four-decade career. The exhibition runs until Nov. 15.
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