Kotoe Ishii's Green Thumb
Green Thumb is a work that, when presented on the Big Screen, will introduce a simultaneously innocent and disturbing intimacy to the public space of Federation Square.
Screening this April 2010, at Federation Square, Next Wave presents Green Thumb by Kotoe Ishii, our penultimate Next Wave Time Lapse work.
Adapted from the 1950s children’s picture-book of the same name, Green Thumb is a short video using photographic stop-motion techniques, created on a loop. There is no dialogue, just natural, ambient sounds. Continuing Kotoe’s long-held investigations into the physical effect of repressed emotions on the body, Green Thumb sees a series of repeated actions/movements in public space. Specifically, the video features Kotoe’s own thumb, shot in close-up, inserting itself into various holes in the urban landscape. As she does this, plants and trees sprout from the holes.
Green Thumb
5:30pm to 6:30pm every Thursday, through April
5:30pm to 6:30pm every Thursday, through April
On the Big Screen at Federation Square
Artist’s StatementInspired by the story Tistou les pouces verts (Tistou the Green Thumbs) by Mourice Druon, Green Thumbs sees a grown woman inserting her thumb into various holes and cracks in her domestic and urban environment. While her actions appear childish and quite nonsensical for adults, the video also contains sinister and sexual undertones that are absent in the original story. Layers of fascination, curiosity and disgust frame the feminine body, whilst a series of uncomfortable moments highlight the ambiguous border between the private and public self.
Artist’s Bio
Kotoe Ishii was born in Akita, Japan and relocated to Australia in 2001. She completed Master of Fine Art at Victorian College of the Arts and Music in 2009. Ishii’s video art practice has recently focussed on the body, in its repressed and animated states. Ishii has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne since 2004, as well as in exhibitions in Japan and Mexico. public screen content.
Kotoe Ishii was born in Akita, Japan and relocated to Australia in 2001. She completed Master of Fine Art at Victorian College of the Arts and Music in 2009. Ishii’s video art practice has recently focussed on the body, in its repressed and animated states. Ishii has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne since 2004, as well as in exhibitions in Japan and Mexico. public screen content.
IMAGE: Kotoe Ishii, Sprouts, 2008. Video still.
