Takeshi Moro uses traditional photo processes and techniques to create large-scale color prints that are often the result of performance-based collaborations with his subjects. Pedestal for Apology evolved out of a series in which Moro asked individuals to enact the traditional Japanese bow of apology in the environment of their choice while contemplating the reason for such an apology. Here, the artist invites museum visitors to likewise enact the bow, using what he calls an “apology pedestal” that he constructed. Moro states, “The simple bowing gesture, raised to an iconic level, is meant to frame ideas of humility and forgiveness for whoever takes the opportunity to perform this act. I am interested in how gestures can be a catalyst for self-expression and self-reflection, and in contemplating the accumulated historical weight that each of us inherits in society.” While the bowing gesture is deeply Japanese in nature, such gestures of submission and apology are found in many cultures. These gestures inform Moro’s thinking, especially as he explores how cultural histories interact with personal histories to define identity.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Moro became interested in the bowing gesture through a historical incident known as the Warsaw Genuflection. On December 7, 1970, West German chancellor Willy Brandt (1913–92), laid a wreath on a monument commemorating the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a Jewish insurgency launched against Germany’s Nazi regime during World War II. As Brandt unexpectedly paused and knelt in silence, in what was interpreted as an act of apology, his image was snapped by various news photographers. The date of the Warsaw Genuflection is also the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led the US to reciprocate Japan’s declaration of war and enter World War II, and this coincidence is not lost on Moro. The artist likewise chose December 7 to capture the self-portrait on view as part of this installation, in which the artist is enacting a bow of apology. The resulting image resembles the Japanese flag and is meant to encourage reflection on the historical weight that each of us inherits in society.

text by Lynne Warren, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago UBS 12 × 12: New Artists/New Work