Interview with Saeri Kiritani, whose work "100 Pounds of Rice" was selected as part of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 exhibition. Saeri Kiritani writes:

"After I began living in the U.S., I came to take a more detailed notice of my eating habits: "I am mostly made of rice!" I thought. In "100 Pounds of Rice," the self is literally and symbolically reconstructed out of rice.

Using Elmer's Glue and rice, even translucent rice noodles as hair, I re-created my likeness as a "rice woman." The sculpture is standing on a mountain of rice that the female figure both triumphantly emerges out of and drowns down into.

Ordinary things I had never paid attention to in Japan became unique in my everyday life here. I look different; I eat rice; I am an Asian. I drink green tea; when I speak I have accent; and I do in fact behave differently. I find myself torn—sometimes I deliberately try to appeal to my natural existence and sometimes I just want desperately to blend in. "100 Pounds of Rice" / Saeri Kiritani / Rice, rice noodles, Elmer's Glue, epoxy glue, wood and metal sticks, 2010 / Collection of the artist . Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding . https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.