About the artwork

I believe that “Koshihikari,” a brand of rice made in the Uonuma region of Niigata, is a major brand that is representative of high quality of rice. Naka-uonuma Country in the Echigo-Tsumari region is made up of Kawanishi, Tsunan, and Nakasato, from which large amounts of rice are sent to throughout Japan. My intent was to create an artwork base on this fact. I received unhulled rice from farmers in the Ueno community of Kawanishi Town in the autumn of 2002. I mixed the unhulled rice into a pulp made by recycling milk cartons, and made 5,000 handmade postcards. I put the initials of the people who had given me the unhulled rice on each postcard. These postcards made with unhulled rice can be sent to anywhere in Japan by putting a stamp on it. I filled the exhibition place with those white postcards, based on the image of Echigo-Tsumari, known as a major snowfall region.