Western Seppuku
Western Seppuku examines a society that has become detached from its foundational structures and rituals, yet continues to appropriate their symbolic weight. The work addresses the romanticization of cultural practices when they are removed from necessity, risk, and consequence.
In this triptych, a Western man attempts to perform seppuku. Stripped of historical function and lived belief (Japan) the act collapses into hesitation, fear, and desperation. The figure is unable to sustain the discipline, conviction, or resolve that the ritual demands. What remains is not heroism, but exposure form, posturing. The work does not reenact myth; it reveals the fragility our western culture that imitates human strength while no longer possessing its conditions.
