Chigiru

A stop-motion animation using chigiri-e (art made of pieces of hand-torn paper). The Japanese term chigiru has two contradictory meanings of “cutting into pieces” and “making a promise.” The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused greater distances between people, and issues such as racism and sexism have been highlighted. Such circumstances can be stated as chigiru (cut into pieces) and are represented by the spherical world map being cut into pieces. However, the torn pieces then form motifs and develop. The pieces turn into people holding hands around the earth, then fall apart, but eventually transform into the earth being regenerated. The process of making the chigiri-e, in which shapes are made by attaching torn paper pieces together, is elevated to the message in this work. It demonstrates two different chigiru through analog methods of chigiri-e and stop motion animation.

Among an increased number of entries for this award in its second year, this work’s degree of perfection was outstanding and all judges rated it highly. When people’s minds become more desolated amid the pandemic, this work warms the hearts of viewers while making full use of the characteristics of the spherical Geo-Cosmos. Its major attractions are the interplay between the two meanings of chigiru, and the wordplay-like expression techniques. While the pandemic accelerates digitalization, this work purposefully used analog chigiri-e and stop-motion animation, providing a warmth and texture to enrich the expression that is not possible with digital alone. The use of a challenging new technique, in which paper pieces are placed on a transparent acrylic dome surface and photographed from inside with a 360 camera, has also drawn high expectations and attention. (MIZUTANI Hitomi)