Immediate Response: (Looking at Aki Inomata’s Memory of Currency) At first, I was like, “Oh, wow. It must’ve taken the artist a really long time to carve this into a shell.” The properties of the shell give the piece an exquisite look to it, almost mimicking marble or quartz. I don’t want to bash the artist, but the portrait could’ve spanned the entire shell, or a large part of the entire surface at least. Besides that, there is enough detail on the portrait to be able to tell who is on there. I have no understanding, initially, why only people who have been currencies have been carved out onto these shells.
Objective Description: Imagine that you have a shell of an oyster. Turn it over onto the shiny, white side of the shell. This area is essentially the canvas that the artist did their work on. Take a small portion of a shell and imagine that someone’s face from a currency, like George Washington for example, is on that small portion of the shell. Instead of the portrait being etched on the surface of the shell, the portrait is contoured out/a new surface has formed and there is a bump on the shell. The bump has enough detail to roughly see who is being represented.
Technical Decisions: As mentioned in the immediate response, I said that it may have taken Aki Inomata a really long time to form this portrait’s surface onto another surface, which is a shell of an oyster. However, this piece was formed by inserting a nucleus into the oyster shell. Each of the nuclei are modeled after someone who has appeared on any currency, George Washington, Queen Elizabeth, etc. Over time, the portrait of the individual would form as a pearl on the surface of the shell. I find it unique how the artist did no work besides placing the nucleus into the shell; Nature formed this beautiful piece of work with the “guidance” of the artist. This concept is interesting as it meshes two completely different things together, forming a new type of currency that nature created.
The work in the World: This work relates to currency all around the world. One thing, that’s very obvious, is that each of the shells have their own portrait of a significant figure that has been on a currency from anywhere around the world. Another things is that these currencies that have been formed by nature would also be preserved, similar to how humans preserve and build up their wealth. Individuals who have accrued a large amount of money may have them stored somewhere in a bank account or wherever and nature, over time, will form its own currency. Nature would eventually build up the currency, the portrait of the individual, until it is satisfied with what it has now (an eventual full face portrait of the individual).
The Story it Tells: The work of art, as previously mentioned/alluded to in a previous section, would be preserved by nature just like how humans save their currency. Once the portrait has been formed on the shell, the shell could potentially be placed/thrown into the ocean or some place. This could be a way for nature to hold onto its own currency after building it up for some time. After some thousands of years, future humans can potentially dig up this piece of work as a fossil. Even nature and humans can be related to one another in a way which could be seen, at surface level, as an impossible comparison.