Akino Kondoh

Birth : , Chiba, Japan

History

Born in Chiba, Japan, in 1980. Kondoh graduated from Tama Art University with a BA in Graphic Design in 2003. Her work spans various media—animation, manga, drawing, painting—and has been exhibited internationally. She has earned fundings from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho), the Pola Art Foundation and lives and works in New York since 2008. In 2010, the digest version of her animation “Ladybirds’ Requiem” made it to the top 25 list of the “YouTube Play - A Biennial of Creative Video” at the Guggenheim Museum, New York. In 2011 Kondoh presented the animation "KiyaKiya" during the eponym exhibition at Mizuma Art Gallery. Her first essay collection "Fushigi to iu niha Jimi na Hanashi" (Nanarokusha Publishing Inc.) was published in 2012. She contributes biweekly to the online literary magazine "MATOGROSSO" with her manga " New York de Kangae-chu." In 2013, Kondoh published her first monograph “Akino Kondoh 1998-2013” (Nanarokusha Publishing Inc.)."

Movies

KiyaKiya
KiyaKiya
Director
— The term "KiyaKiya" comes from the old Japanese expression "mune ga kiyakiya suru." I first encountered it in Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's book Introductory Essays on Girls, in the chapter about "childhood experiences." The expression, which describes “an enigmatic, nostalgic, disturbing feeling,” or an impression of “deja-vu”, is at the origin of my "KiyaKiya" series. — This is one of my memories. When I was a child, there was a book I always used to read when I went to the hospital. One day as I was reading it as I always did, suddenly the ending had changed. Sometime later, when I read it again, it had returned to normal. — In our everyday routine, there are moments when suddenly we feel like something is different; this unexpected change, like in my memory, feels like it has a kind of reality. This impression is at the core of “KiyaKiya” and the related painting and drawing series. —
Ladybirds' Requiem
Ladybirds' Requiem
Director
— The story begins with a girl mistakenly killing two ladybirds. From this incident, the girl's guilt overwhelms her, creating the hallucination of a button of her blouse turning into ladybirds. She begins to feel that her selves have multiplied and exist elsewhere. In an attempt to assuage the continuous wave of guilt and fear, she keeps sewing hundreds of buttons to the inside of her skirt. — I remember, as a child, reading a children’s book. There was a page that could not stop looking at again and again, though it frightened me and gave me nightmares. I have this vision. A ladybird fell from my hand to the ground, where it was immediately crushed by a car. The yellow liquid oozing from its limbs tasted so bitter. “Ladybird’s Requiem” is based on the transformation of these childhood nightmare into beautiful and nostalgic memories as an adult. —
The Evening Traveling
The Evening Traveling
Director
monochrome animation