Annie Long is a visual artist working in multi-media sculpture and oils living in Murwillumbah, NSW, Australia
In the current climate of globalism and issues of how people from different cultural backgrounds and beliefs can live together, it has been fascinating to live in a culture that perceives itself as largely homogenous.
My feeling since arriving in Japan has been a contrast of fluidity and rigidity. The fast movement of people in urban life reminds me of the ebb and flow of a river. An over riding awareness of the group contrasts sharply with the ethos of the individual in other cultures - a school of fish moving in unison, a self regulating whole. And to maintain this identity, a certain rigidity of thought is necessary to keep uniformity.
Yet as one looks closer, differences in generations, wealth, ethnicity, sexuality and gender become obvious. The complexity of individual lives and histories shines through, patched and woven together by the common threads of language and environment . How does an identity based on similarity incorporate difference? How do minority groups fit in the flow? Could immigration ever be a viable option for the issue of decreasing population?