Project

This box shaped installation, made from around 6,000 cut flowers of 200 varieties, was inspired by a trip to Mexico and the sight of masses of fowers being bundled by hand. The work started off as a vibrantly hued clump of flowers, each side measuring to cm, and weighing 200 kilograms, but as time went on and the blooms decomposed, it gradually lost its colour and bulk. BOX FLOWERS engages directly with the process oflife and death that is key to Azuma's dealings with plants, which are of course a form of life. The work recalls the Buddhist painting genre of kusozu, which depicts the nine phases of bodily decomposition.

200種類、約6,000本の切り花で作られたこの箱型のインスタレーションは、メキシコを旅行した際、大量の花を手で束ねている光景からインスピレーションを得た。当初は、一辺が数センチ、重さ200キロの色鮮やかな花の塊だったが、時間が経ち、花が分解されるにつれて、次第に色も嵩も失われていった。「BOX FLOWERS」は、東が植物と向き合う上で重要な鍵となる生と死のプロセスに直接関わっている。この作品は、仏教絵画の九相図（くそうず）を想起させる。