Fort Wayne, Indiana (USA)

Driven by a passion to fit odd shapes together and a strange sympathy towards discarded objects, Sayaki Kajita Ganz creates organic forms with thrift store plastics and found metal objects.

In her own words, Sayaki expains: “I was born in Japan and spent my early childhood there. Japanese Shinto beliefs are such that all objects and organisms have spirits, and objects that are discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin, or so they teach children at many preschools. This became a vivid image in my mind. I grew up moving to several different countries and the constant need to adjust to a new environment also gave me a strong desire to fit in, and to make people and objects surrounding me fit together to create harmony.”

“I use kitchen utensils, toys and metal objects and appliance wire among other things. I only select objects that have been used and discarded. My goal is for each object to transcend its origins by being integrated into the form of an animal or some other organism that seems alive and in motion. This process of reclamation and regeneration is liberating to me as an artist. By building these sculptures I try to understand the human situations and relationships that surround me. It is a way for me to contemplate and remind myself that even if there is conflict right now, there is a way for all the pieces to fit together.”

“We do not have to fit together perfectly with the people we love. Even if you see a wide gap in some places and small holes in others, when one steps back and sees the whole community from the distance there is still great beauty and harmony there. Even if some people don’t feel at home here and now, there is a place where they belong they will eventually find it.”

View many more of her incredible assemblages here.

(Thanks to my Circle colleague Adrian Shum for putting Sayaki on my radar…).