This is a composite work consisting of a pair of two cyanotypes (blueprints). The photo on the left depicts a dead frog impaled on a sharp man-made object, while the photo on the right depicts a sacred tree from the Suwa Taisha shrine in Nagano Prefecture, known as the "Gobashira."
This work is a reworking, in a different form, of the installation of the same name presented in Sato's solo exhibition "Yesterday's Enemy is Today's Friend, Today's Friend is Tomorrow's Enemy," which was held at Gallery Muryoku in 2018. The original work is based on Sato's examination of the controversy between the Taisha and animal rights groups over the "Frog Hunting Ritual," Japan's only traditionally performed sacrifice ritual at Suwa Taisha, and is concerned with the shifting ethics in the various relationships between humans and animals.
The skewered frog that is the subject of one of the screens in this work is a photograph of a frog impaled on an umbrella bone, possibly by "shrike fast sacrifice," but it is not certain. Shrike birds have the habit of impaling their prey on tree branches, barbed wire, etc., and this act is called hasty sacrifice. Juxtaposed with the picture of the sacred tree, the frog could be interpreted as a "sacrifice. In the actual frog-hunting ritual, a live frog is shot with an arrow and offered before the gods.
This work focuses on the ethical relationship between humans and animals, which oscillates among the differences of various situations such as food, religion, nature, or children's pranks, and is symbolically presented in the exhibition space of Gallery Muyo, where numerous pillars and a Shinto altar make their presence felt. This exhibition presents this work as a signpost to show the path of Sato's thinking from his past endeavors to the present.
Excerpts from the introduction of the works in solo exhibition "hogehoge" at Gallery Muryo, Toyama, Japan.
This text was translated with DeepL.com.
