As she mentions in her writing, it was at the opening ceremony of my solo exhibition held in a Meerbusch, a small town near the Dusseldolf, Germany that I met FUKUSHIMA Setsuko.　Though she "hardly goes to opening ceremonies," she did to mine. Talking about myself, I was surrounded by many tall Germans, had a hard time to speak English sprinkled with German and so couldn't reach her noticing a Japanese woman there. It was something like a miracle that we had a talk at the last of the last. Then, she invited me, a stranger, to her house-cum-atelier.

And at that time, I was "sown" "seeds" by her and her works. In the two meanings of that because her works was "seeds" and that I was resonated by her works. In the feeling field of mine, where I dealt with language, books, tracing paper and so on.
Personally, I'd been poor at "breeding" and "cultivating." Letting flowers withered, insects died, I couldn't manage such troublesome things like sowing seeds, watering, fertilizing and enjoying its growth and harvesting. At the same time, I'd kept them away deliberately. I'd feared to be healed and lose grounds of creation.

That I felt conscious of "seeds" was unexpected, but simultaneously I had an actual feeling that the time was ripe to encounter with her. I think I was waiting. Personally again, at that time I had a desperate real life where "consuming time to wait" and "watching over" were at the top priority. I'd felt myself in self-deception of placing art creation regardless of it.

By the way, after that we experienced various exchanges and early this year organized a unit "flugsamen," with a keyword "seeds." We made this compound word from German words der Flug (flying) and der Samen (seeds). The origin of and the spirits in the word are as described by her.

"Flying seeds" is a simile of the seeds themselves that drift by from Germany to Japan and from Japan to Germany and as well a device that sows seeds to all the people.

"Flying seeds" was this time photos and words. This cooperation has just started and continues after this.

I imagine "germination" after "seeds" and the story after that. In us and in you.

　

INUI Hisako