I'm 1/2 japanese and being half has (I think) affected me more than I might have thought when I was younger. The kimono represents my childhod, my parents who came tother in an interracial marriage. It's so odd to me to think how difficult that was for my mother who came here when she was 27, with a 10 month old in 1958. She was shunned by my fathers family (so was he btw). It must have been hard to leave her family. She never went back to Japan and never had any contact with her family after she came to the U.S.
We ate meals that were a mixture of japanese and meat and potqtos that my swede dad grew up on in MN. Every meal we had both potatos and rice with our meat and veggies. Soy sauce was always on the table next to the salt and pepper. Most of my friends (all white) thought we were sort of weird.
The kimono is my childhood, my mom wold dress my sister and I up in little kimonos complete with an ornate obi. Ours were red but I made this one blue, a sort of loose waterfall look signifying the tears my parents shed being away from family and the feelings about the japanese at the time. There is also amythyst studded in there signifying my aquarian birth sign.
The kimino is on the left signifying I've left my childhood behind.
On the right is a compactd version of my story. Turquoise is an alternate for aquarian, febuary people. I used african turquoise. The bottom one is me, at the beginning, not embellished just sort of from the earth. The second set is my marriage with my husband. The gold peyote is in an infinity shape showing our vow of marriage. So far, so good we've been together for 29 yrs. The one above that is the birth of my son. His favorite colors make up the peote bezel. My daugher is next and her favorite colors are her bezel. The top on is my life so far. Purple for royally perfect (even with everything we've all gone thru), it's flashing colors are the flashes of brilliance in my life that each friend & family member brings to me and mine.
My initials are hidden in the form of the piece. This piece has deep meaning for me.
9 comments:
I really like your totem of turquoise. The kimono is not bad either. lol.
Arline
This kimono is awesome. I love the totem and the significance of all the parts. It is really a special piece! This is truly a journal piece for you! It holds so much information and significance! Beautiful!
:-) Thank you Arline and Krispis! I think this page was one of my more fun pages - thinking of stuff that means a lot to me.
Happy belated birthday! I especially like this page.
Kathy V in NM
Thanks Kathy V! This last birthday was a good reflection time for me.
Ohhhh Viv, this one give me goose bumps and a sense of joy and wonder at the amazing resiliance and potential we all have. I don't have words to tell you how much this affects me. I will be back to look at it often. Are your parents still alive? Have you ever been to Japan? I have a best friend who is about your age. She has the same parental situation. I'm going to send her a link to your page right now. Thank you. This is awesome.
Robin A.
Robin, this one is one that really stuck me as having enormous symbolism in it.
My order is cross, spiral, circle, triangle, square and each one of them are represented without me even knowing the shape symbolism at the time.
Both of my parents are deceased (and yes, I still miss them). I lived in Japan for the first 10 months of my life and haven't been back.
I hope your friend does come by and take a look, we probably have a lot in common.
I appreciate all the feedback you give, it's so nice to loop into joy isn't it?
What a powerful piece and moving post - how come I didn't see it before ?
Hi Hélène! Thanks for the comment. LOL, I don't know why you didn't see it before but I'm glad you came visiting.
Post a Comment