POLLEN AND SEEDS: BuBu de la Madeleine

Held at Ota Fine Arts in spring 2022, BuBu de la Madeleine's solo exhibition "A Mermaid's Territory - Flags and Internal Organs" after a 16-year hiatus, received enthusiastic responses. Now, Ota Fine Arts 7CHOME proudly holds BuBu's solo show, "Pollen and Seeds". In this new exhibition, BuBu's new works that are linked to the worldview of the former project will be showcased.

In "A Mermaid's Territory - Flags and Internal Organs," BuBu likened the mermaid's tail fin to a plant. This was based on BuBu's theory that mermaids are 'gender queer' and have similar reproductive processes as plants through pollination by pistils and stamens. In this world imagined by BuBu, the fin of the plant can be called the mermaid's reproductive organ, which releases pollen-like reproductive cells. When they meet, the "seeds of life" develop. BuBu's new installation piece and paintings in the latest exhibition signify these beings.

Multiple mermaid tail fins are placed facing each other in the exhibition space. Countless spherical objects are floating in between, representing pollen and seeds released from the tail fins. Mixed in with the cotton and colorful fabric spheres are balls made of white gauze. BuBu learned that there is a theory that the word 'gauze' originated in Gaza, Palestine. Gauze is used to treat people when they are born, injured and even when they die. However, it is not always readily available to those who need it, both domestically and globally. The continuous activity of living coexists with the cruel reality that we are forced to face.

The source of life, symbolized by the seed, has the power to grow, recover and transform its environment. Whether it is in the soil, in the water or even in the air, the pollens meet and become seeds that sustain life. BuBu aims to create a space where this energy can be replicated. Ota Fine Arts 7CHOME invites all to share this experience.