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Colorful Cascade of 18,000 Paper Silhouettes in 100 Different Colors

Artist Emmanuelle Moureaux’s latest exhibition called I Am Here challenges you to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. The interactive installation cascades from the ceiling in a vibrant rainbow, suspending the silhouettes of 18,000 women in 100 different colors. These paper pedestrians represent the continuous flow of foot traffic in Japan’s Tokyu Plaza Ginza. Hidden among them, however, are three figures—two girls and a cat—that you’ve got to spot among the layers of seemingly endless adult bodies.

Although I Am Here entices you to find the “lost” silhouettes, it also encourages you to rethink where you belong. “One can drown in the same repeated days,” Moureaux writes, “becoming one of the people on the street.” The exhibition makes you ponder, “Am I like these figures in this crowd?”

To create this impressive, uniform appearance, Moureaux used the centimeter-level measurement accuracy of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) as a motif. From about 40,000km in space, this tool can determine your position with incredible precision.

I Am Here is now on view at the METoA Ginza until September 22, 2016.

Emmanuelle Moureaux: Website | Instagram | Facebook
via [designboom]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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