Hikari
Shimoda is a famous Japanese artist who published a collection of paintings
called After the Quake in 2002. The
purpose of the series After the Quake
was for viewers of the paintings to understand the way Japan’s people were
affected by the of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. “Secret” is one of the paintings
in this series. It’s a picture of an innocent baby that has mushrooms coming
out of its skull and looks injured and scared.
The
baby of this picture seems like it was very badly harmed in the earthquake. I
think the baby had a brain injury because she has mushrooms on the top of her
head, almost where her brain would be located. I think the mushrooms symbolize
the fact that she is brain dead. Mushrooms decompose dead material, so I Hikari
was using mushrooms to symbolize that her brain is not working anymore and the
baby is brain dead.
I
find the eyes of this baby very creepy. Her eyes aren’t all the way open and
seem tired. This also supports the idea that the baby is scared and defeated.
Around her eyes has brown bags that form when someone is tired or sick. I think
this baby has been through the ringer after the quake and almost doesn’t have
and hope left.
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