Rumiko Hagiwara
I Want to Be a Shell (2023) and Shell's Metamorphosis (2023)
I Want to Be a Shell
Upon hearing the story of how an ordinary Japanese seashell transformed into one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world, Hagiwara set out to retrace its journey. Central to her narrative of the shell is how it lost its shadow – as the logo became more modern it transformed from a shapely shell to a flat image. Ironically, when the Japanese were learning Western painting techniques they added shadow and shading to their traditional flat images. Along the way, the shell became my shell, carrying her personal reflections on cultural (mis)translations as a Japanese person who has settled in the Netherlands. My confused and confusing attempts to return the shell’s shadow lost during the voyage of industrial design, speaks of our complicity in the capitalist world we live in and the futility of claiming fixed origins. The transformation of shell-shaped merchandise was juxtaposed as an installation and unifying this specific storytelling.
Shell’s Metamorphosis and I Want to Be a Shell are two artworks on the journey of the transformation the Shell logo has undergone through the years. Central to its theme is the narrative of how the shell lost its shadow – as the logo became more modern it transformed from a shapely shell to a flat image. The artworks turn the logo into a personal reflection of Rumiko Hagiwara’s personal experience of cultural mistranslations as a Japanese person living in the Netherlands. The shell’s shadow being lost on its voyage of industrial design speaks to the complicity of people in this capitalist world and the futility of claiming fixed origins.
Rumiko Hagiwara was born in Japan in 1979 but now lives in Amsterdam. Her work is made of site-specific conceptual art installations, photos, videos and performances that suggest to people to view ordinary life from a different angle. Inspired by her cross-cultural experiences, she creates humorous poetics of the ordinary that mixes Western conceptualist approach (ready-made objects) with traditional Japanese culture (shadow, light, reflection).
Upon hearing the story of how an ordinary Japanese seashell transformed into one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world, Hagiwara set out to retrace its journey. Central to her narrative of the shell is how it lost its shadow – as the logo became more modern it transformed from a shapely shell to a flat image. Ironically, when the Japanese were learning Western painting techniques they added shadow and shading to their traditional flat images. Along the way, the shell became my shell, carrying her personal reflections on cultural (mis)translations as a Japanese person who has settled in the Netherlands. My confused and confusing attempts to return the shell’s shadow lost during the voyage of industrial design, speaks of our complicity in the capitalist world we live in and the futility of claiming fixed origins. The transformation of shell-shaped merchandise was juxtaposed as an installation and unifying this specific storytelling.
Shell’s Metamorphosis and I Want to Be a Shell are two artworks on the journey of the transformation the Shell logo has undergone through the years. Central to its theme is the narrative of how the shell lost its shadow – as the logo became more modern it transformed from a shapely shell to a flat image. The artworks turn the logo into a personal reflection of Rumiko Hagiwara’s personal experience of cultural mistranslations as a Japanese person living in the Netherlands. The shell’s shadow being lost on its voyage of industrial design speaks to the complicity of people in this capitalist world and the futility of claiming fixed origins.
Rumiko Hagiwara was born in Japan in 1979 but now lives in Amsterdam. Her work is made of site-specific conceptual art installations, photos, videos and performances that suggest to people to view ordinary life from a different angle. Inspired by her cross-cultural experiences, she creates humorous poetics of the ordinary that mixes Western conceptualist approach (ready-made objects) with traditional Japanese culture (shadow, light, reflection).