While living in Japan, Mai Hofstad Gunnes became interested in the meaning of name-giving in Japanese culture. In the work “What do you mean? Part I” she asks several young people why they were given their actual name, and which consequences this might have for their lives. In simple interviews we are introduced to individual stories about the different names. In “What do you mean? Part II,” adult women explains how their names have had an impact on their self-perception and shaped them as individuals. The stories told in the work reveal hidden structures that influence the formation of identities.

 

Elisabeth Byre

 

Excerpt from cataloguetext, Domestic Affairs, Festivalprogram, Momentum 2006