Japanese artist Yukio Terada was born in Osaka, Japan and now lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
‘My work developed within the context of sculpture, which has its origin in expressing the body. The material I use in my work is, in my interpretation, a primary medium between the body and society – clothes. I use unwanted articles of clothing disposed of by others. My hands are at least the second into which the articles have come, if not having already been passed along more than once.
First, I wash or clean the material, take off the tags, and mend the frayed spots. Once this process is completed, I start to cut the material to make a new object. For the new object I use solely the original found material, adding only minimum material if needed. I grew up in a society that bustles with overproduction and consumption. But I do not want to participate such a social system, at least in my work. For this reason I began to alter the value of the unwanted material by transforming it into something new. I sew without a machine, only with my hands. It is a gesture to make time tick at my own pace in our high-speed society. With these intentions I make my work each day.’
