A video installation about a former Japanese soldier’s testimony about the killing of civilians and sexual assault in wartime China will go on display in London in October, even as its creator struggles to find a museum willing to display the award-winning work in Japan.
Angels of Martyrdom, created by contemporary artist Miro Koizumi, has won acclaim abroad, but Japanese museums have been reluctant to display work that confronts memories of violence committed by Japanese forces during the Sino-Japanese War.
“The work will only be complete when people can see it in Japan,” said Koizumi, 50, who hopes it will eventually be shown in his home country.
Three screens emerge from the darkness of the gallery space. At the center is the late Hajime Kondo, a former soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army who was 99 years old when the work was filmed.
