Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling

‘Shelter for the Feeling’ is a space installation consisted of  sound, lace, fibre-glass bars, foam and canvas. It’s based on personal story of Japanese contemporary artist Akiko Sato exploring her life voyage and the history of Croatian tradition of lace-making.

With the assistance of ten lace-makers from the ‘Lace Makers Association Danica Brosiler’ from Lepoglava she created a portable lace tent that symbolizes home.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling (c)

Akiko Sato lived in five different countries, every time starting a new exploration not only of her new home, but also of herself. The project started when she moved for the second time in Croatia, but this time, as mother.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling, photo: lomodeedee (cc)

When she was breast-feeding her daughter, in the quietness of the night, she captured movements and shadows of the lace made curtains. Sato became inspired by the fragility of textile materials, shaping through gentle movement and, above all, the mastery of one of the oldest female craft and hand make technique.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling (c)

‘Each culture is like the current of a stream, with a group of people who share time together. I felt like a ball of sponge just thrown into a different current, floating on the surface of the water. I had to start collecting new knowledge. Just like the sponge when it gets heavy with water and sinks, I too had to sink into the stream to become a part of it, and to feel much more comfortable’.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling taken from dentelledeluxeuil.com (c)

Akiko Sato was born in Japan, spent part of her childhood in Philippines, and in Thailand.  Strong influence is in her work ethic, a legacy from a childhood growing up with grandfather who is a carpenter of traditional Japanese houses.  She studied interior architecture in Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo, Japan.  She moved to Seattle, United States, holds BFA in fine arts, from Cornish College of the Arts majored in sculpture.  She lived in New York, and currently lives and works in Croatia with her daughter Nika and husband Milan Trenc.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling (c)

Akiko Sato recently worked in numerous interdisciplinary, multicultural collaborations.  She worked on set and costume designs, with multimedia dance companies such as Gabri Christa and Danzaiza, Troika Ranch, and Tracie Morris, a multi-disciplinary poet and a performer based in NY. Her first tent series ‘Tent that tells a story’, an installation work was featured in Cork, Ireland in year 2006, as part of ‘Crossing water and boarders down memory lanes’.

Akiko Sato: Shelter for the Feeling taken from exblog.jp (c)

‘By juxtaposing the element lace, a mandala of women, poems of maternity, Akiko attempted to create a “shelter for the feeling”. The whole process was an experimental interaction of differences in many elements such as cultural back ground, discipline, generation, reinforced by many people’s efforts, ideas and noble devotions.’ (taken from: My Land project)