In a talk show with Naohiro Ukawa, Keiichi Tanaami told about the implyed meaning behind a goldfish. In the first place, he doesn’t have a goldfish and he doesn’t like it. For him, it is a strong image since he saw a goldfish in a glass tank glittering against a star shell during the war. In other words, a goldfish is an image of war for him.

“War Rug”

It might be a reason that he used in in his design for this project. There exist a rug called “War Rug” and it was actually the starting point of this project. “War Rug” is like an illustrated magazine with design which directly criticize war but the designer is anonymous. The message in the semi permanent and durable rug is delivered to the viewer strongly and creates a lasting impression. Underlying theme of Tanaami’s work is surely “a war existed in daily life” and it’s close to the one in “War Rug” which is woven in a refugee camp or somewhere.

Naohiro Ukawa

On the other hand, Naohiro Ukawa, who drew Snorkmaiden, talked about the theme of his conceptual work. How a condom is drawn by the people who lives in a place where rarely a condom is used? He attempted to express anti-US or anti-war message of people who is scared of a threat of chemical weapons paradoxically, by using vivid colour of synthetic dyestuff not dyeing with vegetables, a traditional way of Afghan rug. Tassels around the rug is compared to a tail of Snorkmaiden. Also it expresses antithesis against a news trend that don’t often warn HIV as other news is flooded, even if it is still prevalent. It’s a marvelous work.

Yutanpo Shirane

This work is by Yutanpo Shirane. The motif seems to be a human’s hair. His interest was to treat the rug as “a thing used in daily life” as originally it meant to be used, rather than treat a rug as complete form of art. He says “Several colours of hair, such as fair, brown and black imply the human race. I wanted to express ‘peace’ by placing them in one picture. I want to lie on the picture of a female’s hair of the peaceful countries from all over the world”.