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ACT OF CARE
2025
Textile objects
160 x 150 x 3 cm


Act of Care makes visible the connection between the physical body and politics. The textile installation is both an homage to and a political reinterpretation of what can be considered one of the most significant traditional Japanese garments: the kimono. The artistic project explores the history of this iconic piece of clothing, inextricably linked to the image of Japan and still revered and cultivated as a symbol of national and cultural identity. Because its cut has remained largely unchanged over centuries, the kimono is often perceived as a simple, timeless garment. However, as processes of modernization—accelerating decisively after the Second World War—displaced the kimono from everyday wardrobes, Japan’s national dress gradually fell out of daily use. Since the postwar period, the kimono has been worn primarily on special occasions such as weddings or tea ceremonies. The series of textile objects developed in collaboration with Takamatsu Studio deliberately breaks with this tradition, granting the kimono renewed, politically resonant visibility as both medium and message. In Act of Care, the yukata—a lighter version of the kimono—functions as an image carrier and is reimagined not as a static or immutable artifact, but as a contemporary garment imbued with political agency. As a performative textile artwork, it can be activated in a performance, while displayed in a museum, it invites the viewer to imaginatively wear this message on their own body. In bold black letters on soft white cotton, the garments articulate a clear and urgent appeal: a demand for peaceful coexistence, and for the sustainable protection of nature and all living beings on our planet.



Photos: Simon Veres