Reduction I

In response to the 2011 Fukushima tsunami and nuclear disaster, Kondō Takahiro created in 2013 an intial series of five porcelain sculptures based on casts of his own body. This particular figure, one of the five, represents the archetypal Japanese person in the timeless form of a Buddhist holy man, seated in meditation. Kondō's signature silver mist glaze is used here to evoke the radioactive fallout that potentially drenches the people of Japan. The title, Reduction, reflects the devastating impact of the disaster, symbolizing the diminishment of an entire population.