Painting
It’s Supposed to be a Good Day
Acrylic on Canvas, 50 x 60 cm
Showcased at Art Jakarta 2024 with Can’s Gallery
In this painting set at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, a group of schoolgirls meanders through the historic grounds, their presence both light and grounded, as if they are suspended between the weight of the shrine’s ancient past and the ephemeral nature of their youth. The red torii gate looms above, vibrant and unmoving, while the girls, dressed in their navy-blue uniforms, pass beneath it, unaware of how this moment—this simple act of walking together—will slip away, soon becoming just another memory folded into their lives.
One girl leads the group, her gaze distant, her thoughts seemingly adrift, as though something heavy presses against her chest that she can’t yet put into words. Behind her, her friends chatter and laugh, their voices carried by the gentle breeze, blending with the hum of the shrine’s quiet energy. They’re moving through time as effortlessly as they move through the shrine, without realizing that this ordinary walk, on this ordinary day, will be something they might think back to when they’re older, when the shrine becomes more than just a backdrop—it becomes a place where they once existed, fleetingly.
The lanterns hang in perfect rows, watching over the scene with quiet patience, much like the shrine itself. Yasaka Shrine, with its deep roots in Kyoto’s history, stands eternal, yet the girls passing through are in motion, bound to time, to the inevitable changes that life will bring. The shrine, like a silent witness, absorbs their presence, adding their brief moment to the countless others that have walked the same path for centuries.
It’s a scene that feels suspended between the old and the new, between tradition and youth, between what is and what will be. The shrine will remain, but the girls—this fleeting moment—will slip away, remembered in the subtle ways only certain days, certain places can be. Just like the breeze brushing through the trees or the sunlight on stone, this moment is both fragile and profound, something that will linger in the heart long after it has passed.