Sun Sister [2015]
A Girl Who Thinks the Past and Looks at the Future
Sun Sister is a gigantic statue of a girl standing firm on the ground and gazing southward at the sea, holding a “Shining Sun,” a symbol of hope, in her right hand. The statue provides a place for recreation and relaxation as her skirt has become a shelter from rain and sunray. It was designed as a monument for The Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 and created for its 20th anniversary in 2015.
Kenji Yanobe hoped Sun Sister to be a figure that thinks about and respects the pain and difficulty people have experienced as a result of the disasters, how they overcame such agony, and who would watch over their future that is filled with faith and joy. The artist also thought the fact that the area got over the Great Hanshin Earthquake might inspire and give hope to the people suffering from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, so he made the statue look like a sister who is a few years older than the Sun Child.
In 2014, the prototype of Sun Sister was produced and exhibited at the annex to the Museum of Kyoto. The figure repeatedly sits down to deeply meditate as she closes her eyes, and then stands up while opening her hands and eyes. This action symbolizes the dream of rebirth and the arrival of hope. Later, the sculpture was displayed in the exhibition Ohara Contemporary at Musabi at Musashino Art University, and workshops with local junior high school students were organized. The work was also exhibited at a warehouse made of stone as part of Contemporary Art Biennale Fukushima 2014 in Kitakata City in Aizu with lightning effects directed by Shisei Kinoshita, an exhibition designer at the Tokyo National Museum. This performance earned some reputations.
Sun Sister was permanently installed a t the bottom of the southern grand stairwell in the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. The statue appeared to have ended her journey — she has awoken from her meditation and is standing. The ocean is visible in front of her eyes, and the statue faces the south which corresponds to the epicenter. At the same time, it indicates that she is facing the sun. The statue’s stainless steel clothing and the “Shining Sun” reflects the ray. Sun Sister and Sun Child are watching over the world as its lowly recovers from natural disasters. Drawing from public suggestions for nicknames, the Sun Sister was named Nagisa. The statue is now seeping into the local landscape and the hearts of local residents and other people who come and go by the seaside.
