UBASUTE: A CERAMIC NARRATIVE
20x20x29 cm | Ceramic
Ubasute (姥捨て, "abandoning an old woman",  is the mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die.
This ceramic piece is a narrative playing off the many Japanese folklore of a young person abandoning their old or sick to be left for dead on top of a mountain from which they are unable to return. A path is carved into through the mountainous terrain, along which  small houses appear. The few buildings suggest those left in the mountain have built a temporary community, as they wait for their deaths. Perhaps a very straightforward allusion to the Western model of old age homes.  
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