[Title] Equal
[Artist] Hideki Kuwajima
[Date] November 20, 2008 – January 20, 2009
This window display deploys visionary images generated by passing light through several layers of glass. Positioned as the finale of the “Dazzling India” Hermès annual theme for 2008, this space is used to portray an “imaginary spiritual city” wherein light is enshrined as the radiant object of worship.
Photographic artist Hideki Kuwajima crafted the window. On this occasion, for the very first time he developed glass components used to date for photographic shoots into full-blown three-dimensional creations. In the quest to sublimate “light,” the single most critical element in the realm of visual expression, as a sculpted image, Kuwajima opted for glass as his medium of transformation. In taking that step, he set out to depict a domain in which light instilled with dreamlike qualities after transcending through various forms of glass strategically vies with Hermès products to orchestrate a breathtaking mix of exquisite images.
Kuwajima, who unleashes his creative force as the philosophy of “equal linkage” between technology and art, reports that he felt a vast sense of identity with the stance that Hermès brings to its craftsmanship. These respective attitudes directed toward the act of creation have been effectively unified as a unique world invoked to unfold within the window.
Though essentially comprised of the same basic material, the systematic arrangement of glass at angles that manifest distinctively different forms has been mobilized to bring to life a single self-contained imaginary city. The light channeled through several different layers of glass warmly embraces the hearts and minds of passersby, acting to discern and define the equal ties that each and every individual possesses.
Hideki Kuwajma
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1964, graduated from the Japan Institute of Photography and Film in 1989. He has staged exhibitions of his works at numerous galleries in Japan and abroad, such as the recent “VERTICAL / HORIZONTAL” show held at the Radi-um Gallery in Tokyo in 2008. Kuwajima relentlessly expands the scope of his creative endeavor, transcending the boundaries of photogr