Various facets of personal communication among diverse social communities are exemplified in intriguing videos and photographs. Shingo Kanagawa in for a while (2011) documents his reunion with his aunt who had gone missing for many years. Kyun-Chome in Until My Voice Dies (2019/2022) narrates stories of transgender people who have altered their names and physical features.

Osamu Matsuda, The Slave Chair and video, 2020, Courtesy: ANOMALY, Tokyo. Installation view: Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2022-2023. Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Osamu Matsuda in The Slave Chair (2020) portrays a computer-processed woman in an amusing and poignant video clip. She describes her struggles as a divorced parent while managing a small bar in the red-light district. Tatsumi Orimoto’s photo and video series of grandmothers’ lunches spotlights his comical “Bread Man” performances in Portugal, Denmark, Brazil, UK and Japan. He entertains elderly folks in restaurants in honor of his deceased mother whom he had taken cared of in her battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Oh Haji, Seabird Habitats, 2022, Collection of the artist; Fuyuka Shindo, Settler from Somewhere, 2022, Collection of the artist; Katsuko Ishigaki, varied paintings, Collections of the artist, Installation view: Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2022-2023, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

We can see representations of cultural diversity and human interrelations with nature. The pandemic times have provided opportunities for people to discover ethnic roots, such as Ainu, Okinawan, Chinese, or Korean. These are expressed, for example, in paintings by Katsuko Ishigaki and textiles by Haji Oh (Ama’s home/boat floating on memory with the colour of emptiness, 2018).

Aki Inomata, How to Carve a Sculpture (detail), 2018-, Collection of the artist, Installation view: Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2022-2023, Photo: Kioku Keizo, Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Aki Inomata’s How to Carve a Sculpture (2018-) is a unique woodwork in the shape of tree chews made by beavers, signifying the co-existence of animals and nature in art.