In Samizu’s eerie work ”OPIA!”, New York's towers have crumbled. The work took shape in her shocked reaction to discovering huge areas of America's greatest city seemingly in ruin and abandonment, even fabled Harlem. Here is her description:
“For some time, I had been contemplating giving vent to a strange feeling of desolation I was struck with when I saw, for the first time, the decaying buildings of Harlem, in the middle of busy New York City. The overly gaudy visual atmosphere of the surrounding areas accentuated the ruinousness of the skeletal appearance of the dead structures.
A torn scrap of paper blowing past read “—OPIA!” Did it mean UTOPIA! Or would “DYSTOPIA” be likely given the surroundings?
“My intention was to create the feeling of the aftermath of destruction without depicting actual dead bodies. I was making a considerable number of sketches and some clay models in order to construct a reasonably adequate composition.
“During this period I had a dream which seemed to solve all the problems, pictorial and otherwise, with one stroke. In the dream I was inside a cave-like place when suddenly the entrance stone was removed and I saw intense light of utmost brilliance.
In the midst of the extraordinary flood of light, there was a young woman engulfed in white flame shrieking in a high voice "help!" . At the same time, I could see the walls on both sides of me, in momentary illumination against which, silently stood corpselike figure looking into empty space, totally undisturbed by the occurrence outside of the cave. At the spot nearest the entrance sat a stone figure of a woman, somewhat reminiscent of a sitting statue of the Virgin (without child).
“Mainly because of technical difficulties I could not solve at the time, I did not choose to create a faithful depiction of the dream. The flaming woman was turned into a stone statue and a stone statue into a living figure with flaming hair. “The corpses were relocated to "outer side" and turned into buildings. A psychological monologue perhaps I alone can enjoy. “
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