Of Fireflies

Yayoi Kusama,
Fireflies on the Water (2002)

Now is a part of permanent collection at Whitney Museum, NYC. Immersive experience achieved with mirrors, plexiglas and lights. The visual aesthetic reminds of Osmos. Transformation of reality. Emotional response to beauty, and what is universally beautiful?

Fireflies, "hotaru", are symbolic of passionate love on the one hand, but may also represent the souls of soldiers who died in a war. They only live in clean streams. "Hotaru no Hikari (The Light of the Firefly)" is a song performed at graduations and various other "goodby" events.

Love=passion=purity=defence of honor=farewell