Letters h17xw10xd2.5cm movie, mixed media 2011
Letters
This is the memory of when he and his wife decided to throw away letters they had been keeping for close to 40years. They then resolved that they would then move on towards a new life. These were many letters they had received from family and friends. The letters possessed a commonality in the memories that had accumulated in them.
In this way, Ken Matsubara uses his individual experiences in his work. Yet, beyond his own memories he has interest in the commonalities that exist in races and generations. He thinks perhaps this is from the mitochondria, the microorganism of the human race? Like an endless DNA that is copied and inherited in memories.
Now in the debris of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan, many people have lost their lives and many are still being searched for. In that instance, family albums have been found. So how do we form memories? From symbolic moments such as finding items that people hold dear to their hearts.
Ken Matsubara would surely like to share these memories with the future generations. Then steadily, through the study of tragic memories with people he dreams of the day those memories can be overcome.