“Kanji-kus are short poems based on the
Japanese kanji or ideogram for the word itself.”[1]
That means, that Children’s time is
organized in the shape of the Japanese sign for Child and that the author wants to “explore the innate meanings”[2]
of this sign with her work. In an e-mail interview with Cristina Fdez
de Gorostiza Samper she
writes:
Children's time is one of about 10 kanji-lkus. In all my kanji-kus,
I
explore the way that the shape of the Japanese word means, how it fits
together. I want to bring out subtleties in the shape and structure
of
the word itself. In Father figures, for example, I juxtaposed the two
crossing sides with a flashback to the past about the father and what it
means in the present to be a father. In Children's Time, the
outstretched arms suggest to me a child running, an exuberant play.[3]
[1] Deena Larsen: http://www.deenalarsen.net/ (last viewed on the
[2] Deena Larsen: http://www.deenalarsen.net/ (last viewed on the
[3] Deena Larsen: http://mural.uv.es/fersam/emaildeena.html (last viewed on the