Younger Sister — 故小妹

"Younger Sister — 故小妹" is a memorial print, the Chinese character "故" indicating that the younger sister is deceased. The title transforms the composition from a portrait into an elegy, the younger sister present in the image through whatever the artist has depicted while already belonging to the past that "故" indicates. Yumeji lost people he loved throughout his life, and his memorial compositions carry a different charge than his imagined bijin — they are specific rather than archetypal, private rather than universal, grief rather than romantic melancholy.