Artist Sayaka Kajita Ganz is not the conventional sculptor. She uses kitchen utensils, gardening tools and all sorts of scrap bits and bobs that have all been discarded prior to being used in her complex sculptures. The detailed makeup of her structures almost makes it seem as though each component is a working part of the mechanical animal as they contribute to the physical composition like a vital cells in life forms. She integrates them carefully into the sculpture, placing them perfectly as if fitting a component into a working machine.
Ganz grew up in Japan and uses the beliefs of Shinto to influence her work. She uses the Japanese concept that everything has a spirit and that ‘Kami’ (God or spiritual essence) resides in all things. Her sculptures explore the ‘fitting together’ of objects in order to create something harmonious.
By building these sculptures I try to understand the human situations and relationships that surround me. It is a way for me to contemplate and remind myself that even if there is conflict right now, there is a way for all the pieces to fit together…Even if you see a wide gap in some places and small holes in others, when one steps back and sees the whole community from the distance there is still great beauty and harmony there. Even if some people don’t feel at home here and now, there is a place where they belong they will eventually find it.
Click here to visit Sayaka Kajita Ganz’s website for more information and other projects.