How I feel is not your problem, period.

“How I feel is not your problem, period.” serves to cast an eye on the difficulties of life that children in their teens may feel, and proposes to continue thinking about various unanswerable questions through engaging with contemporary art.

“Empathy” is the ability to understand the feelings and experiences of others. Kindness and consideration to see things from another person’s point of view is a skill necessary to promote the facilitation of society, and its importance has also been emphasized in recent years both in the fields of education and business. However, for everyone there are indeed times when one does not wish to empathize or be empathized with. Some people might feel that their feelings have been taken lightly if someone says to them “I understand how you feel” with a know-it-all look on their face, while others may feel uncomfortable when coerced to empathize under peer pressure through phrases such as, “You know how I feel, right?” This is especially true for teens, who often struggle with relationships between family and friends, as well as during the process of establishing their own identity. Nevertheless, when empathy is considered as equating to kindness, there are moments when one may actually feel burdened to reject empathy.

The works of five artists: Shigeo Arikawa, Makiko Yamamoto, Atsushi Watanabe (I’m here project), Riki Takeda, and Kayako Nakashima attempt to think about and understand people they don’t know, or those who are not there in front of them. While some express doubts towards facile or superficial forms of empathy, others arrive at a state of empathy through developing a deep understanding. Through viewing their work, we too may find ourselves raising questions such as, “What is this person doing?” and “What is this person thinking?” There is no pre-prepared answer to these queries, and all we can do is to keep contemplating. We believe that not empathizing is by no means an act of rejection, but instead is that which opens up new possibilities for dialogue and thinking.