Musubi
Illustration
Musubi is a series of reductionist illustrations. I wanted to explore complicated themes of relationships and various social constructs through very minimalistic elements. I use a single continuous line to represent time, the thread that loops endlessly, tying all of life together, and cartoonish faces that represent individuals and their emotional states.
“Musubi is the old way of calling the local guardian god. This word has profound meaning. Typing thread is Musubi. Connecting people is Musubi. The flow of time is Musubi. These are all the god's power. So the braided cords that we make are the god's art and represent the flow of time itself. They converge and take shape. They twist, tangle, sometimes unravel, break, and then connect again. Musubi — knotting. That's time.”