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26 Youki Hirakawa b. 1983 Youki Hirakawa is a Japanese contemporary artist born in Nagoya, Japan. He currently lives and works in Toyota, Japan. Hirakawa has exhibited extensively worldwide and his inaugural solo exhibition 'Secret Fire' at Anima-Mundi was held in 2016. In 2017 he was finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. His works are held in numerous public and private collections. In the work A Candle, the candle is laid down on its side, it burns faster than usual and the wax of the candle melts and draws a form denoting the path of time passed. It is a poetic work that Hirakawa acknowledges as showing his concern with 'the way that time seems to be leaking in the chaos of the modern world'. Quietly bringing into question methods by which we may be speeding up the processes of personal, ecological and/or spiritual combustion. There is a deep spiritual connectedness present in this work. Hirakawa's vision shows a profound awareness that everything has a duration, but this vision has at its own burning heart, a secret fire - an awareness of the alchemist's gnostic yearnings for immortality or renewal. Through shifting our perceptions of time, we become more aware that all things are connected, and in that, there is hope and faith that perhaps all remains eternal. The Japanese phrase 'mono no aware' is a term used to indicate an awareness of the impermanence of things. It is concerned with the evocation of a gentle witfulness at this transience, alongside a longer deeper contemplation at this state being the reality of human life and consciousness. A knowledge that all that we are and all that we know will one day pass. A Candle evokes this principle. Another attribute to this work is one of Hirakawa's primary muses - the acknowledgement of man's inexplicable and inescapable connection to fire. Our early ability to harness its power is one of the early separators of us from the rest of the animal kingdom; an original technology borrowed from nature and wielded to conjure our own advancement. At the heart of our planet, is a burning mass, this burning heart, this hidden fire. A Candle, 2019 Single Channel Video Installation / Silent / Full HD / 33min 50sec loop Display Area 143 x 81 cm Courtesy of the artist and Anima Mundi Gallery www.animamundigallery.com How does looking at this video installation affect your sense of the passing of time?