Rei Naito

The Hand, the Eye & the Heart | 1 October 2011 — 12 February 2012 | GOMA | Free admission

Rei Naito’s delicate single pillow reflects on the commemoration of death and is a distilled metaphor for solitariness, abstracted through scale and the absence of any depicted figure. The work extends from a project made in response to Jörg Ratgeb’s murals at the Carmelite Monastery in Frankfurt. They depict the tensions and upheavals leading to the Reformation in Central Europe, the history of the Carmelite Order and the persecution of its monks during their migration from the Holy Land to Europe. Using fine silk organza, Naito created 304 small pillows for each individual portrayed in the murals. Illuminated from beneath, the pillows are intended as reminders of the fragility of existence. In contrast to the Carmelite monastery pillows, Naito’s single pillow is for the nameless souls – the countless number of individuals who have no one to commemorate their deaths.