MAYA FUJI

The title and theme of this series is a reference to the Hyakkiyako and Tsukumogami scrolls from the Muromachi and Edo periods of Japan. There is an old Japanese belief that a household object that has been used for 100 years will develop a spirit and become a little tsukumogami monster. They often come out at night to play tricks on humans, but occasionally will do something helpful as well. Hyakkiyako, directly translated to "parade of one hundred demons," is the night time parade of many of these little monsters, alongside Yokai demons of Japanese folklore. In this series, I replaced the imagery of demons or monsters with small ghostly feminine figures, taking similar poses to the original scrolls, but carrying and embodying a blend of old and modern household objects (such as a bento box or rice cooker). In the wasteful world that we live in today, I imagine what it would be like to use household objects with such care that it lasts well beyond our lifetimes, enough to develop a spirit, and what it would be like if these little monsters still had a place to exist today.