Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Image © Takaaki Okada

Artist Statement

'I may be found in your way of breathing and walking - Thich Nhat Hanh

A film grain is talking to me.
I listen intently to the texture of its breath: coarse? smooth?

In the quiet of the library, the printer wakes up. I want to be like the toner,
always reflecting back whatever it receives.

Inside a film grain, I see my grandfather carving a seal from soft stone, excavating a pattern of hills and rice fields.
A wake left in a stream, cascade, ocean, blood, lineage.
Imprints across sand, stones, rocks, bones, ancestors.

As I sit still in the dark and silence, the grains formed constellations. I bowed down and surrendered,
and then I finally saw
that I was gone.

This project would not have been possible without the generosity and encouragement of the staff at Multnomah County Library's Albina and UO Portland branches.

This booklet is printed using Multnomah County Library's amazing free printing service. https://multcolib.org/ mobile-printing

Takaaki Okada | Portland, OR

---

Purchase Available Work