S. Nees

profile
Sculptor, illustrator, and arts educator from Virginia, USA.

websites
Traces International Stone Sculpture Journal: http://www.traces.ws
Portfolio of stone sculpture work: http://www.stonesculpture.ws
Portfolio of sumi ink drawings: http://www.traces.ws/ink

biographical information
S. Nees is a studio-trained artist living in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her artistic pursuits include granite sculpture, sumi ink illustration, arts education, and arts advocacy. She creates abstract sculpture in stone as well as bittersweet comics and figurative drawings in sumi ink. Sumi is a water-soluble ink best known for its use in Eastern calligraphic arts.

Thoughts on Japan
S. Nees

My work is strongly influenced both aesthetically and thematically by my experiences living as a foreigner for several years in Japan. My artwork reflects a deep love for Zen aesthetics, the tenderness of folk arts and animistic beliefs, and a sincere appreciation for Japanese ideals like good manners and self-discipline.

But my narrations are also informed by a deep concern for the psychological impact of the more difficult and dehumanizing aspects of Japanese life. To an outsider, Japanese ideals such as gaman and bushido, which place a high priority on orderliness, discipline, self-sacrifice and the warrior spirit, might seem novel, perhaps even heroic. And there are countless instances in which these ideals have produced some very impressive results; achievements which are a credit to the strength of human will.

But when you move past the gray area of the spectrum concerning gaman (which I define, perhaps too loosely, as the Art of Resignation) the darker characteristics of gaman are revealed: shame; obedience; drudgery, conformity; self-effacement to the point of nothingness.

I want to emphasize the fact that I am moved by compassion, not contempt, in evaluating these issues. I can't stand to see people suffer. And when people ask me what I remember about Japan, the suffering is often what I remember most vividly: the alcoholism, the suicides, the broken marriages, and the children who inherit it all.

I have absolutely no desire to condemn Japanese society, or even to portray it in an unflattering light. That type of sweeping characterization is something I want to strenuously avoid, particularly at such a sensitive time. I dislike politics intensely, but feel that something would be missing here if I did not express my personal dismay and embarrassment as an American to see my leader show such tragic disregard for domestic and international opinion.

So please be assured that my criticism here is not a political one, or even a cultural one. I am not even asserting that the Art of Resignation is a Japanese invention. It is a human characteristic that is practiced worldwide, but one that is particularly evident in Japanese culture, for good and for bad.

I also want to make it clear that I explore these ideas not only as a student of Japanese culture, but as a student of the human mind. Resignation itself is a neutral concept; it is something that can go in a very positive direction, or a very negative direction. The big question is this: How do you decide when is persistence a bad thing? When does self-discipline become unhealthy? When is it best to simply adapt to your situation, and when is it a tragic form of surrender?

This is an excerpt from an essay by S. Nees. To read more writings by S. Nees, please visit her website at http://www.traces.ws/ink