Jasmin Saya Young

This sculpture is an abstracted form of the traditional Torii. It is painted red, the archetypal colour for a Torii. By bringing the Torii to the West, its function within a Japanese Shinto shrine has been lost, but it still retains its Shinto roots to nature. It is common to see a Torii by the sea, acting as a spiritual portal, being one with the awe of nature.

“How concrete everything becomes in the world of the spirit when an object, a mere door, can give images of hesitation, temptation, desire, security, welcome and respect. If one were to give an account of all the doors one has closed and opened, of all the doors one would like to re-open, one would have to tell the story of one's entire life.” (Bachelard, 1958: 255)

The Japanese Buddhist thought of celebrating the beauty of transience and imperfection in nature, known as Wabi-sabi(侘寂), is embraced by this piece which contrasts raw wood with traditional Japanese joints with plasma cut and welded steel. This piece explores how a threshold has a cultural, spiritual, practical and emotional aspect that everyone has experienced uniquely.

I discovered that rose window imagery had visual similarities to Buddhist art and Kamon (Japanese emblems). This provided the inspiration of combining the Torii with Gothic rose ornamentation. By combining the two styles together, they are neither traditionally Gothic nor Shinto anymore. They can be considered to have a multicultural hybrid nature or identity. The intention was to make something familiar but also novel to celebrate both cultures. The choice of colours I used was informed by my research on stained glass windows.

The design of this piece is inspired from a Torii (Shinto gate) and gothic rose ornamentation to form a tower that looks similar to a Buddhist temple or a totem pole. The material has affinities to a Shinto shrine, where there is always a mirror to reflect the sun, connecting the spiritual energy to the sun god Amaterasu. The reflection of the mirror also creates a threshold of the self for anyone who interacts with the piece.

The etching of a gothic rose on the top panel represents the sun with a landscape of Torii and trees below on other panels. Elements of the rose are subtly incorporated into the trees and Torii. The illustrative style is influenced by ukiyo-e (Japanese wood block printing 17^th- 19^th century). The panels are yellow to convey the familiar warmth of the Sun. This landscape references the origins of Torii, which were originally trees.

I was inspired to create this piece after seeing the ‘Akari’ series of lanterns at the Barbican during the Noguchi exhibition, and also by the book ‘In Praise of Shadows’ by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki about Japanese aesthetics on architecture and lighting.

I created clay vessels influenced by the ancient Japanese flame-style Jomon pots, which integrate the Torii with imagery from rose windows, influencing the pattern and form. In my designs, the visually similar flower is a geometric reference to the original Jomon flame. These vessels are painted gold; a colour which relates to the Sun and represents the sacred and precious.

I experimented with metal in the form of a mild steel square section, which I welded myself to construct a more abstract industrial Torii form.