ARTISTS

Atsushi Yamamoto’s About Dignity uses the motif of a folding bed to ruminate on how we deal with life and death. Disguised as an elderly man, the artist climbs across a mountainous landscape carrying a collapsible bed on his back. Appearing both aged and yet full of vigor, the man passes by a dam and along forested roadways before eventually reaching a beautiful clearing near the summit, where he sets down his burden and climbs on it to rest. The symbolism behind the work is ambiguous. Perhaps the heavy bed represents the dignity accumulated over a lifetime, but it could also be a chilling reminder of inevitable mortality.