Juna Saito

Juna Saito - Curatorial Rationale

After an unexpected loss this past year, it became a sudden and necessary priority in my life to make sure those I care about know that I love and value them, no matter the way I told them. I started to become obsessed with the five Love Languages: Acts of Service, Quality Time, Touch, Words of Affirmation, and Gifts. It was fun to figure out what the languages of my friends and family were and then show them love through whichever means they favored. Love is something that everybody can relate to. Everybody cares for someone and has the right to tell them so. Through my exhibition, I hope to take viewers on a walk through my interpretation and personal experiences with the different love languages.

To capture the range of things that can be done to show someone you love them, I had a wide variety of artistic approaches. I used everything from wire, painting, clay, and layered paper, to string, and found objects like leaves and books. Most of my pieces were mixed media. One sculpture incorporates wire, folded paper, and string, another is a collage of paper combined with embroidery. Since these pieces were based on ways that I personally connect with people around me, the merging of materials was meaningful in representing the unique relationships I have with each person. By utilizing different combinations of mediums, I could represent how no two relationships are the same, they each require different types of attention and effort.

I used my artwork to explore a motif of simplicity. A conscious choice that I made with most of the mediums I used was to represent people as uncomplicated geometric forms instead of detailed individuals. I felt that though my pieces were personal and represented specific people in my life, they are meant to represent the overall concept of love languages more than just my own relationships. My inspiration came from experiences in learning to read what kind of love people responded to best, whether it be immortalizing moments we spend together, giving meaningful presents, having deep conversations about life, cleaning up after a long day, or laying intertwined in a grassy field for the evening.

The viewer first encounters my paper and embroidery collage, “Unprompted Actions”. In the window on the left, you can see a sunrise beginning just as the person that cooked and cleaned has finished. I decided to start my exhibition this way because at any given time, love is being expressed in millions of different ways. My aim (inspired by Kitagawa Utamaro’s series, Fuzoku Bijin Tokei, or Customs of Beauties Around the World) is that my collection as a whole will display moments of love from different times throughout a single day. The next piece the viewer will find is “The Saito Book”. With it focusing on the idea of where I come from and how I began, I set it near the beginning to represent the ways my parents' gifts have built me into who I am and how they will stay with me in later years of my life. These two pieces are followed by “Short Film Kinda Vibes”, “Fall Fistfights”, and “ILY”, which surround moments that happen during the day or afternoon. They are less grand gestures and more casual displays of affection, simple words and time spent together that show love from both perspectives of being part of the relationship and from the outside looking in. The last two pieces, “Let’s Be Alone Together” and “Finding Friends” are pieces that take place in the evening, after a long day, depicting quiet and intimate moments. I hoped that by putting them last, they would create a gentle conclusion to the collection that could also lead the viewer back to the beginning like an endless cycle of new days.

Overall, my vision for presenting this body of work is to take viewers through a cohesive, loving reminder that even while there is a lot going on in the world, the opportunities to express love are everywhere. There are not rules or limitations to how they can manifest, it is simply important to take advantage of them.

Juna Saito

Short Film Kinda Vibes (December 2020)

Wire, Tissue Paper, String, Cardboard, Washi Tape

Size 8in x 3.75in x 5in

ACTS OF SERVICE : a person is depicted getting chores done, their inability to keep the dog under control shows that they are not used to doing this, the dog isn’t theirs. They are doing these chores for someone else as a way of showing that they care for them. The wire is disorganized and thrown together to represent the wobbly feeling of not being great at the tasks, but still doing them anyways because you love the person.

Juna Saito

Let’s Be Alone Together (2019)

Clay, Glaze

6in x 2.5in 3.5in

TOUCH : Though the whole couch is open, the family is spending time bonding in a comfortable silence on one end of the couch together. One of the ways to show that you love someone is to be comfortable with closeness, these little comforts are enough to make people feel safe and secure.