In 2012, Yuya Elementary School in Gero, Japan, closed its doors due to declining enrollment, as well as low earthquake resistance. With that, nearly 70 years of students learning, reading, playing, and running around came to a halt. In the work of Japanese artist Yuka Numata, the children never really left. With her installation Replaying Afterimages, she depicts the kids who once studied there as ghostly sculptures, exploring how memory and absence can shape a space.
“When I first visited Yuya Elementary School, I had the strange feeling that I could hear the voices of children coming from the empty classrooms,” Numata tells My Modern Met. “It made me wonder whether the time and memories of the people who once occupied a place can remain there, even after they are gone. With this idea of ‘the memory of a place’ in mind, I created this installation to give those memories a visible form.”
The sculptures rely on perspective to come alive, as they are made of hundreds of beads suspended from the ceiling using fishing line. As visitors walk around the classroom, the beads align to reveal a figure sitting by the window talking to two students; another sitting at their desk, raising their hand; and a boy upside down in a star-fish position, as if challenging the place assigned to him in the collective memory.
“I 3D-scanned the children and reconstructed their figures three-dimensionally using dots made from ironing beads, based on the scanned data,” the artist explains. “The figures, incorporating glitches and errors, appear throughout the empty school building like holograms or afterimages, evoking the memories and presence of the children who once spent their time there.” The result sends a message about how past and presence can sometimes overlap.”
Replaying Afterimages is part of the Gero Art Discovery 2026 art festival, a new creative gathering that has brought together 59 artists from across Japan and abroad. The former Yuya Elementary School is one of its venues, alongside forests, historic streets, and the Gero Onsen district. Replaying Afterimages and the rest of the artworks will be on view through November 8, 2026.
To stay up to date with the artist, you can follow Yuka Numata on Instagram.
With her installation Replaying Afterimages, Yuka Numata explores how memory and absence can shape a space.
Located in an abandoned elementary school, she depicts the children who once studied there as ghostly sculptures.
Exhibition Information:
Yuka Numata
Replaying Afterimages
September 11–November 8, 2026
Yuya Elementary School
46 Osakacho Yuya, Gero, Gifu 509-3113, Japan
Yuka Numata: Website | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Yuka Numata.
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