B Amazed: Salt Sculptures

Japanese sculptor Motoi Yamamoto has wowed the world with his incredible sculptures made entirely of salt.

Yamamoto is able to create these superb floor installations by using a plastic bottle, generally used for machine oil, and filling it with salt to then sprinkle onto the floor.

However the artist’s technique was stemmed from loss and tragedy.  When he was a third year student at Kanazawa College of Art his younger sister died, aged only 24, two years after she was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Salt is often used within Japanese death rituals and is often given out to people at the end of funerals in order for them to ward off evil.  Salt has a special place within Japanese traditions and Yamamoto believes that drawing with salt is like following a trace of his memory.

The sculptor seasons his artwork with love and care and at the end of an exhibition requests the salt be returned to the ocean so its journey can come full circle.

An exhibition of the Japanese artist’s work is currently showing at the Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan.

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