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Tsuyoshi Ozawa (1965) is the Japanese conceptual artist behind the work ‘Vegetable Weapon’ in which weapons acquire a new poetic and social meaning. A concept that encapsulates the creative identity of the Tokyo native with which he reimagines the Japanese history of the 60s and 80s, while launching a critique of the values and extreme consumerism of Japanese society.
Ozawa is also co-founder -together with Chen Shaoxiong and Gimhongsok- of the artists’ collective Xijing Men, in which each of them addresses historical events through images, installations or performances.
Vegetable weapons
Among his most notable gastronomic works are the “Nasubi Gallery” series, which consists of portable micro-galleries made from milk crates; his “Museum of Soy Sauce Art,” in which he reproduces masterpieces of historical Japanese art using soy sauce; and, of course, that of “Vegetable Weapon”, centered on photographic portraits of young women holding weapons made from vegetables.
The series begins in 2001, when the artist begins traveling around the world with the goal of capturing young women holding ‘weapons’ made from the ingredients needed to prepare an indigenous hot pot dish. From the image, another sequence follows: that of the ritual in which the actual hot pot is created and shared in community.
Visual satire
The women holding the weapons raise and shape a photographic satire that questions our conception of war, related to ‘absurdity’ and violence. All that frame of horror is replaced here by beauty and the idea of sharing starring a female cast holding ‘weapons’ upright; as if they were about to shoot. Prominent among them is a photo in Fukushima just after the earthquake and accident at the nuclear power plant in March 2011.
The work also illustrates the power of interaction, of dialogue as a method of resolving conflicts: a contemporary means of expression with which to bring new meanings to cultural, social and political events. Also to their representative value.
The real essence of this project is based on the act of sharing a meal. In the revolution when it comes to reversing established roles or roles. Now it is women who hold these parodies of war, as a conscious decision of the photographer to highlight gender assumptions in contemporary conflicts.
The photographs in the collection show a variety of foods from different cultures or communities, while the viewer frames the context by their titles: Chapsui/Baguio, Philippines or Parippu (lentil curry) from Sri Lanka/New York.
Ozawa’s vegetable weapons, which are eaten and shared, thus suggest the power of communication and the need to be sensitive to different cultural values and beliefs. Ozawa would launch a reflection on this: ‘Weapons exist to kill people. Although ‘vegetable weapons’ can’t kill anyone…. Which weapons to choose?’
