Nobuho Nagasawa Exhibition
Westwood Gallery
This event has ended.
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC presents a solo exhibition by New York based installation artist Nobuho Nagasawa. This is her first solo show with the gallery and includes an all-encompassing, site-specific installation entitled Drawn to the Light, which combines the artist’s deep-rooted tradition of multidisciplinary art, fusing technology, light, sound, and community engagement.
The gallery installation turns the space into an ephemeral city to honor the cycle of life through symbolisms from nature. Prior to the exhibition, Nagasawa recorded stories from individuals in three public spaces, Tompkins Square, Washington Square, and Columbus Park. The three parks triangulate an area in which WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC is located, in the center of the Bowery community. Visitors can walk through the gallery as an ethereal space with white scrim panels hanging from the ceiling and marking off three contextual spaces related to each park. Each of these three areas will have a single light source, to which the symbolic luna moths are drawn to; and the light will emanate the oral stories of those who lost loved ones.
On a 35-foot gallery wall with sculptures of the moon, Nagasawa will stencil hundreds of luna moths over the course of the exhibition, marking a visual memory which connects to emotional memory. The luna moth, a mythical symbol in many cultures, represents the inner spirit, intuition, awareness, and trust in ourselves. After 12 months in metamorphosis, the luna moth exists for less than 10 days as a winged adult and is rarely seen due to its nocturnal nature. Their short life span reminds us of our moments to live and love to the fullest. On the final day of the exhibition, Nagasawa will erase the moths as a symbolic act of release for all we have lost during Covid-19.
The ‘Drawn to the Light’ installation also references the 500-year tradition of Japan’s Obon, a summer festival to commemorate ancestors. On the last day of Obon, candle-lit lanterns are released into rivers to guide the spirits of ancestors back to the other world. Following this tradition, Nagasawa’s installation in the gallery is a two-month extension of the three-day Obon festival, which ends according to the lunar calendar on August 16th. The three light and sound environments capture the same spiritual qualities of the Bon-chochin, releasing many stories in remembrance of the spirit of precious lives lost.
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Schedule
from August 19, 2021 to October 16, 2021