RYU IKA

This work was created for Sense Island – Island of Perception, an art event beginning on November 12th on Sarushima. It consists of thermographic images taken in and around the Yokosuka Naval Base. I visited the base on the U.S.-Japan Friendship Day, but was denied entry at the ID checkpoint because I hold a Chinese passport.

The moment I had to separate from the group I came with, I handed an infrared camera to K-san and asked them to take photos for me. This work combines those images taken by K-san with photographs I took myself.

I had come all the way from Tokyo, only to be turned away. But then I thought—if this is a “Friendship Day” between the U.S. and Japan, and I am neither American nor Japanese, perhaps it was naïve of me to forget, even after eight years in Japan, that I’m still seen as a foreigner.

As I watched the beautiful fireworks rising over the base from a distance, thoughts of nationality, identity, borders, and freedom filled my mind as I quietly boarded the train home alone.

Though this version remains a prototype and feels incomplete, I am determined to keep working toward its completion—even after this exhibition ends.

Photographic cooperation: Taisuke Koyama