2009年の交通事故による高次脳機能障害と記憶喪失を経て、事故の２日後から緻密な点描画を描き始めたGOMA。世界屈指のディジュリドゥ奏者であり、事故前は絵画とほとんど縁がなかったというGOMAが描き出すのは、「意識を消失したあとに見た景色」である。
事故から10年以上経ったいまでも、意識を失った昏睡状態に陥ることがあるというGOMAは、意識が回復するまでに見える光景の記憶に、一定のルールが存在することを発見した。本展「ひかりの地図」では、GOMAが意識を喪失してから回復するまでの景色を段階ごとに構成し、ある規則を持った「地図」として鑑賞者に追体験してもらうという初の試みに挑戦する。
2018年、NHK ETVのドキュメンタリー番組でアメリカの研究所を訪れたGOMAは、脳に傷を負ったことで突如特異な能力が開花する「後天性サヴァン症候群」と診断される。GOMAはそれ以来、医師や科学者、同症状を持つ人々との対話を通して、自身の創作行為に一種の普遍性を見出すようになったという。
GOMAが「ひかり」と呼ぶ作品はどれも、現実の意識から遠く離れたところで出会った景色を描いている。その景色は、人種や国境を超えて、わたしたちの体の奥底に眠る「ひかり」の姿を呼び起こすことだろう。
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“Map of Light”
In 2009, GOMA began to draw intricate pointillism only two days after a car accident that caused him higher brain dysfunction and amnesia.GOMA, one of the world's leading didgeridoo players who had little connection with painting before the accident, draws the scenery he sees after losing consciousness.
More than a decade has passed since the accident, but GOMA still falls into a coma from time to time.
In 2018, he visited a medical research institute in the United States for an NHK ETV documentary production focusing on the process of his recovery.
There, GOMA was diagnosed with acquired Savant Syndrome, a presentation of (often extraordinary) scholarly skills that can emerge after a non-disabled individual suffers a traumatic brain injury or illness.
Through dialogues with doctors, scientists, and people with similar symptoms, GOMA found a sort of universality in his creative activities and decided to coexist with the intense energy swarming inside his brain rather than fight against it.
After experiencing a coma state many times, GOMA discovered a consistency across his memories of the scenery before becoming conscious.
Light plays an essential role in this process. According to near-death experience researchers, light is also an element reported by many people across different races and gender who had similar experiences to GOMA.
The "Map of Light" exhibition is the first attempt to invite the viewers to relive GOMA's experience through a composition of sceneries, beginning from the loss of consciousness that then moves towards recovery, step by step in a specific order, like following a map.
Here there is GOMA's strong will to "show a trail to return from the 'world of light' where anyone may depart to one day".
All works that GOMA names "Hikari ('Light' in Japanese)" depict scenes he encountered far away from the conscious state existing within the realms of reality.
These sceneries will awaken the figure of "Hikari" that sleeps in the depths of our bodies.
