Tovaangar

Satsuki Shibuya’s newest work “Tovaangar” is an appeal to contemplate and consider those who came before us — the indigenous people who thrived here and cared for the land long before we existed. A direct reference to the people whose homelands spanned the Greater Los Angeles Area, “Tovaangar” means “the world” or “homelands” in the native tongue of the Tongva. The works are rendered in the artist’s signature abstract, meditative style and inspire the viewer to remember that we are all connected; the ties that bind us across generations and landscapes cannot be severed or forgotten. In the artist’s own words:

As we continue to reclaim lands as our own,
we somehow fail to also remember the origins of the land,
who cultivated and brought it to life,
and most importantly, who cared for it as an extension of themself.

There are no boundaries,
distinct dividers,
only man-made, fictitious borders, which when adhered to
create chaos rather than harmony.
All commonalities lie within the soil with which we live upon,
and the Tovaangar along with other nations understood this.

Our home, Los Angeles, is made of —
multicultural, multifaceted, multinational, multidimensional beings,
interconnected with a land’s history that cannot be forgotten,
aligning lives lost, living, and born.
We are the past, present and future.