Aichi Triennale 2019

Both sculptor and researcher, Odawara Nodoka deploys art and writing to critically engage with the topic of Japanese sculpture, specifically during the beginning of the modern period and the Second World War. Her work goes beyond dealing with sculpture as an artistic genre, bringing to the fore the underlying issues of Japan's modern and contemporary history. The trajectory of public sculpture closely reflects the shifting of eras and of society. Attesting to this are the arrow-shaped pillar that once marked the epicenter of the atomic bomb's explosion in Nagasaki, the statues of soldiers and the monument formerly known as the Hakkō Ichiu Tower erected during the war, as well as the proliferation of statues of female nudes in the post-war period. Odawara is keenly aware of how public sculpture, to a greater extent than artwork in museums, is formed by the times, society, and the subconscious of the people that inhabit them.