MAHOU

A film directed by the creative art group goen° as part of the Let’s Make Art with Children of Ishinomaki project. It centers on nine children from Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. Based on the notion that for the very reason that we experience loss in a disaster, we should be able to create new things again, the crew filmed pictures and 3D objects that the children created to express their dreams and ideals, which were then used to create animations and other productions. The film is accompanied by a song entitled Mahou (“Magic”), composed by KOBAYASHI Takeshi and Salyu. Multiple workshops, field studies, and discussions were held, from which the film captures and expresses the children’s true, authentic words. This project was exhibited at the Reborn-Art Festival 2019 alongside the paintings and 3D objects used in it, as well as a larger artwork created by the children.

Humans interpret, think, and express. It is perhaps through the repetition of such thought and activity that we learn many things that can serve as motivation for changing the world. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, too many changes took place. By seeing how the children developed their own understanding, thinking, and expression over the period of some 10 years, we gain abundant insight. This work, which takes a sampling of the current state of a variety of children’s emotions, is filled with ideas that we must preserve for the future. In today’s world where we have so many technological tools to choose from, will we just passively accept them, or will we use them as tools of expression? This project has gifted us with such a question. (SAITO Seiichi)