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8. Memory Reconstruction

In this section, we present the collages on canvas that Tanaami began producing after rediscovering his past collages in 2012. These tumultuous compositions brashly juxtapose elements evoking wartime memories, such as fighter planes, with characters from American comic books and Hollywood movies, Japanese actresses, and imagery appropriated from Pablo Picasso and other artists. Collectively reflecting the cultural history Tanaami absorbed during the postwar period, the myriad images rub elbows with enigmatic creatures of his own creation. Unlike the purely handcrafted collages of the 1970s, these works are initially designed on a computer, then digitally printed on canvas, and finally enlargements of magazine cutouts are affixed to the canvas, creating densely packed spaces that deluge the viewer with visual overload.

“Memory Reconstruction” comprises a greenhouse containing the dream diaries and scrapbooks that Tanaami kept for a time (cat. 8-1). Upon reading the American psychologist John Kotre’s book White Gloves (1997), Tanaami came to recognize that people unconsciously change and rearrange their own memories over the course of their lives. He reflects, “Dreams and memories subtly overlap, interlock, undergo an editing process, and are resurrected as new memories. For me, dreams and memories are the source of all ideas, a priceless Bible that ceaselessly emits a powerful vibrational field.” It appears that even after leaving Tanaami’s conscious mind, fragments of past memories continue to grow like independent life forms within the greenhouse.