KUWAI HANA

Self-Portrait

An Offering to the Void

A tree that once harbored life, and metal that has never possessed life. This work—which unites the two into a single pillar—marks the origin of UNDULATION.

During the summer of my sophomore year of high school, I read Hideo Nakai’s *Offering to Nothingness* for the first time. The impact was so profound that, ever since, the question “What is nothingness?” has never left the depths of my heart.

About ten years ago, when I began working on this piece, that word somehow came to mind naturally. I wasn’t following the story. I still clearly remember that, even as it remained just a vague image, the single word “nothingness” guided the entire creative process.

The materials are cedar and metal. The surface of the cedar is coated with a special silver-based paint. Living, organic wood and inorganic metal that has never possessed life. To be honest, even now I can’t quite explain why this hybrid came to be associated with “An Offering to Nothingness.” Still, I believe this is one concrete form of my own offering to nothingness.

Ten years have passed since then. Even as I went through various experiences, a sense of nothingness was always by my side. Then, a few months ago, I suddenly realized something: this objet d’art, which I had created with the theme of an offering to nothingness, was actually a self-portrait. When I reached that conclusion, a question I had long carried with me quietly fell into place.

"VOTIVE" is a word that means "dedication" or "offering." This name refers to this single pillar itself, dedicated to nothingness. Furthermore, VOTIVE 01 is UNDULATION’s debut work and the place where all of its concepts and ideas originated.