Artwork by Masaki Hirokawa

Peace

平和

Jun 2020 · Photo collage · Digital media · 100 x 120 cm (Height x Width)

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The Japanese title of this artwork means “Peace,” and as the title suggests, it was created with a wish for peace. All human beings are equal, and all lives have value. Regardless of country, language, skin color, or wealth, all lives are sacred, precious, and irreplaceable. Whether one is a great scholar or a sinner, good or bad, all are born into this world equally blessed by God. There is not a single life in this world that has been lost in vain.

The design concepts conveyed by this collage are equilibrium and harmony. Each of the hands around the woman amplifies the presence of the others, and the design falls apart if any of the hands are missing or poorly balanced. The woman and the multiple hands surrounding her are conceived as an integrated design signifying the manifestation of a higher being who will bring peace to the world. Drawing inspiration from the hope for love, harmony, and peace among humankind, this work embodies a design hierarchy based on equality, as its title suggests.

The Japanese title of this work means “Peace,” and as the title suggests, it was created with a wish for peace. The woman and the multiple hands surrounding her are conceived as an integrated design signifying the manifestation of a higher being who will bring peace to the world. Drawing inspiration from the hope for love, harmony, and peace among humankind, this work embodies a design hierarchy based on equality.

This is a collage of five hands placed around a woman. Given that each source material differs in size, brightness, and color, each hand was individually edited to create a sense of coherence. Additionally, gold makeup was applied, and each accessory was meticulously refined.

First, I individually edited each of the source materials in Adobe Lightroom and assembled the collage in Adobe Photoshop. Next, I added and adjusted glow effects, integrating all elements into a single image. I applied digital makeup and re-edited the entire composition from scratch in Adobe Photoshop. Although the dimensions of the final image are slightly larger than A1 size, the total file size came to 15GB due to containing over 200 layers. Most processes were carried out using brush tools, with particular attention to detailed adjustments of brightness and color. Each of the source materials in this collage is placed with pixel-level precision and meticulously edited so that they come together to form a unified figure.

Since this collage features many source materials, I carefully edited each one individually by adjusting brightness and colors to create a sense of coherence. I underwent an extensive process of trial and error, as even the slightest misplacement or incorrect angle of an arm could disrupt the entire composition. I poured my heart and soul into this collage to provide peace of mind to the viewer.

This research focuses on visual expressions that enrich people’s minds, encompassing not only material wealth but also peace of mind. The primary objective of this collage is to provide peace of mind to the viewer. How it achieves this is extremely difficult to articulate, as unlike other artworks, over 90% of it is based on inspiration. This inspiration is drawn from the external environment, originating from the “superego” in psychology and from spiritual entities in the metaphysical realm. This collage comprehensively represents all core systems that allow human existence to prosper, including business, society, ideologies, and culture. It was created with the purpose of manifesting a deity that brings peace to this world, inspired by thoughts rooted in Japanese Buddhist teachings.