1997

Upper Body Ornament

Japanese, born 1965

Sakurako Matsushima employs traditional Japanese lacquer techniques in her contemporary jewelry and ornaments. Upper Body Ornament is from her large-scale Body Ornament series from the mid-1990s. Concerned with human adornment and its associations with the spiritual realm, the artist creates neckpieces that are meant to connect to our inner spiritual dimension. Matsushima used a traditional dry lacquer technique called kanshitsu to make this double-tiered, angular oversized neckpiece comprising two segments, each having a zigzag design. The outer segment bends outward and folds under itself on both sides at the collar. Upper Body Ornament’s folds and stacks create the illusion of three-dimensionality.