Today I admire the moon by . from singapore

In spite of me using a Japanese name, I was born and grew up in Europe, yet admiring the moon, both during the month of harvest and just in clear sky days was common and always pleasant, reassuring activity. Seeing starts and the moon – puts one into a perspective about one’s place in life. I wanted to do an experiment and use a kimono print as a narrative with deep metaphorical sense, same way it has been used traditionally but to tell the different story – an ironic take on Otsukimi and the admiration of the moon – in a modern day when neon signs and light pollution in cities prevent people from seeing stars. I remember how much more beautiful Tokyo looked during recent electricity savings; I was also deeply touched by Junichiro Tanizaki’s essay “IN the praise of shadows”.
I created the print in Yukai colors, bright and energetic like the modern society, and life in the city, there - the moon is either on bill boards or on the screens of devices we carry. There is no space for self-reflection, and many notions are upside-down. Yet on the obi we see flowers composed of moon bunnies and butterflies drawn in European style – a sign of cultural fusion and passing time, as any flower that blooms will wilt, our time will also pass and change to something else. “Today I admire the moon” is a nostalgia for non-existent time, it is not about changing the current but about remembering the importance of self-reflection. Graphically it is an experimentation of merging hand drawn flowers with digitally created neon signs pattern, both potentially meant for Yuzen technique, I tried to make the pattern fresh yet as something that would fit the world of kimono and would not look inappropriate for Natsu Matsuri for example.