“K -who works in the kitchen- gave this candy to the Japanese manager of a Hong Kong style Chinese restaurant where I work, who gave it to me saying “I don’t eat Chinese anyway”.”

2023/2019, Text, egg yolk pastry, plastic bag

“K -who works in the kitchen- gave this candy to the Japanese manager of a Hong Kong style Chinese restaurant where I work, who gave it to me saying “I don’t eat Chinese anyway”.”, 2019, Installation view from Aichi Triennale 2019: Taming Y/Our Passion, "After 'Freedom of Expression?'" Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art

This work traces the process through which the artist sublimated a personal experience into art. The subject matter involves interpersonal conflicts arising from racial discrimination in her workplace—a situation she was drawn into, likely due to her position as a woman.

The text depicts the artist's accusation and her subsequent spiritual overcoming of the situation, having been caught in the crossfire of human conflict and subjected to unjust oppression by the male company president.

During its exhibition at The National Art Center, Tokyo, the work faced censorship regarding the pastry itself, cited under regulations against displaying "organic matter." In response, the artist added text during the exhibition period to visualize this act of censorship; however, even this supplementary text was subsequently targeted for removal.

For Aichi Triennale 2019: Taming Y/Our Passion, the artist compiled the entire process leading up to the withdrawal of the work at The National Art Center, Tokyo, exhibiting this documentation as an integral component of the piece. The documentation is available for viewing at the following ↓　

URL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ussju3R6wXJfDuWoGziysordNyHJZed3/view?usp=drive_link

[Full text of the above work which has been removed]

In the past I have worked at a Hong Kong stile Chinese restaurant. There were employees from Hong Kong, China, Vietnam and Japan working as waiting staff. One day I got some sweets from the director. The sweets had been a gift from K, one of the chefs at the restaurant. He had been back to his home country of Hong Kong because all the chefs were required to go back their home country once a year according to company rules. So, he had bought the sweets in Hong Kong. But actually, these were supposed to be for the director, not for me. Because in fact K had offered them as a gift to the director, but it was not accepted. I do not know the reason why even now but apparently the director had stated that he did not eat Chinese food. This is all there is to the story for why I got the sweets. After that I tried to eat them first, but I did not. This was because I was against his idea. I liked K and I like Chinese food. And to be honest, I did not like the director as a person. Finally, I realized that I do not need to accept his idea and eat it either. And I created this as artwork.

But in this exhibition, I did not display six pieces of candy and their individual wrapping plastic bags, but rather the most external cardboard box and plastic plate that covered the candies' bags. During the preparation period for this display, all pieces using special materials such as water or sand required consultation with The National Art Center, so this piece underwent consultation as well. As a result of that consultation, I was not allowed to use the candy itself or the wrapping bags in this piece. Additionally, I was not able to disclose the terms of service or any documents from the consultations with The National Art Center during the preparation period for this exhibit in this essay.

It is unfortunate that this museum was unable to receive the entirety of this piece. However, what is now in front of you is the result of what was made from the various wishes, intentions, and regulations of the individuals and organizations surrounding this piece. I think that there is a need for us to accept the whole of the situation, including the particulars.