The Angels of Testimony

Meiro Koizumi’s video installation The Angels of Testimony centres on the 99-year-old war veteran Hajime Kondo. Kondo fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and wrote a book containing a precise account of the atrocities he committed. He is one of the few people in Japan who have spoken openly about the war crimes committed by the Japanese army. Years later, in an extremely emotional interview, Koizumi confronted Kondo with his own words. By that time, however, Kondo had become old and feeble. He now had trouble speaking and found large gaps in his memory. Yet in dreams, he continued to be tormented by the traumas and guilt complexes that pursued him.

Guilt, shame and deeply-rooted taboos concerning Japan’s role in the Second World War all recur frequently in Koizumi’s work. In The Angels of Testimony, he explores the relationship between individual culpability and a sense of national or collective guilt. What significance does such a moral inheritance have when you yourself had no hand in the events? And when those events took place decades ago? Can shame and culpability be passed down from one generation to another?

Alongside the interview, Koizumi shows footage of young performers on two large screens. The performers are shown repeating Kondo’s shocking words in the privacy of a studio and in a public space. Sometimes in a whisper, sometimes in a tone of doubt or as a scream, they express emotions ranging from resignation to fear to anger. It is as if they are performing a ritual, attempting to embody these narratives and by doing so, to understand or process history – or perhaps even make peace with it.

Not only does the performance seem aimed at a collective reckoning, it also conjures associations with the inner voices that continue to torment Kondo: voices of regret, recollection and moral confusion. Koizumi passes no judgement. Instead, he reveals the subtle layers of emotion and the moral ambiguity that often accompany memories. His work is an attempt to bridge the gap between the individual and society and to give tangible form to the complex nature of history and human accountability.