⑪Artist Profiles SASAKI Rui

By placing collected plants between glass plates and baking them into ashes, Sasaki Rui seals their form in the glass. The plants, composed of the memory of the land and the component varying with the season, are the memory not only of the land but also of the artist who collected them. She chose glass, which she first encountered in childhood at Okinawa, as her material of choice because it has similar characteristics to water, which she liked because of its ability to show phenomena, and because glass is also suitable for retaining water phenomena. This kind of property of glass and its suitability for preservation and recording matched Sasaki’s intention to create works that retain memories. Many of her works feature light, such as built-in lighting and the use of luminescent materials. The artist appears to want to make it visible the components of the plant, trapped in glass and reduced to ashes, in the “Subtle Intimacy.” It is a device befitting Sasaki, who says she communicates with people through plants.