Ai Ozaki | in The Bakery: Fig Leaves

Annet Gelink Gallery is pleased to present Fig Leaves, a solo presentation by Ai Ozaki, on view in the gallery’s project space, The Bakery. In Fig Leaves, Ai Ozaki (Saitama, Japan, 1991) explores the relationship between the body, perception, and everyday life. Her multidisciplinary practice — encompassing video, sculpture, text, drawing, and installation — examines how the body interacts with “the Other,” a concept that for Ozaki includes not only other people but also animals, plants, and the self.

Ozaki’s recent research and works revolve around two intertwined themes: 性 (sei: sex, human nature) and 食 (shoku: eating, food, living). These subjects stem from our shared experience of having a body, as well as from her personal history. Growing up with parents who worked in the pixelization of pornographic videos — a process used to obscure genitalia, referred to as “mosaic” in Japan — Ozaki became attuned to a state of seeing and not-seeing. In those censored images, she perceived human figures interacting like animals, revealing a primal rhythm that connects all living things.

Opening November 7, 6-8 PM.