ARTISTS
HIROKO OKADA
© Hiroko Okada, courtesy Mizuma Art Gallery
CELEBRATE FOR ME: OKURU
Video
12 min., 11 sec.
In Japanese funerary tradition the okuribito is responsible for performing rituals such as washing and cleaning the deceased to prepare them for their final journey. We will never experience these rites in life, but could it be possible to do so through an artwork? This question led Hiroko Okada to create her project Celebrate for Me: okuru, in which participants become their own okuribito through the aid of AR and VR technology. This video documents the first day of the project.
About the Artist
Born in Tokyo in 1970, Hiroko Okada creates multimedia works with strong social messages, often inspired by her own experiences of marriage, parenting, and caregiving. Major works include Celebrate for Me (2023), an XR experience of funerary rites; Engaged Body (2019), exploring regenerative medicine; and The Delivery by Male Project (2002/19), depicting male pregnancy. In addition to her individual practice, she leads the alternative puppet theater troupe Gekidan☆Shiki (2010–) and launched the W Hiroko Project (2020–), an art initiative born out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
