Receipts reveal hidden lives in Japanese artist's unusual works
To most people, a receipt is a scrap of paper to be stuffed into a pocket or thrown away without a second thought. To Japanese artist Viki, it is a glimpse into somebody's life.
Using receipts collected from across Japan and overseas, Viki, 27, creates artworks by applying heat to thermal paper, turning parts of its surface black without using paint or ink.
But it is what the receipts contain -- the mundane details of what strangers buy, where they go and when -- that most interests him.
"Receipts contain time and memories that are so ordinary they end up being forgotten," Viki said.
"They're filled with invisible, very personal thoughts and emotions."
His fascination with them dates back to elementary school, when he was waiting to buy popcorn at a movie theater and overheard a couple discussing keeping their ticket stubs as a memento of their date.
The couple bought popcorn but discarded the receipt.
"I wondered why they would keep the movie tickets but throw away the popcorn receipt," he said. "That popcorn receipt was part of their important date too."
The encounter made him wonder whether the seemingly insignificant moments recorded on receipts were being forgotten along with the paper itself.
Viki began collecting receipts while attending preparatory school before entering art university, initially asking friends to give him theirs. He later appealed for them on social media.
Now they arrive by post or are dropped into collection boxes at his exhibitions and events.
Viki looks at each one.
"I read them almost like picture books," he said.
The purchases can offer clues about the lives behind them -- the size of a family, what someone eats for lunch or the little things they habitually pick up at a convenience store.
"What I really enjoy is being able to see the life of somebody I don't know."
Sometimes those glimpses can be more intimate than expected.
Viki recalled feeling slightly awkward after coming across receipts showing the purchase of condoms at a convenience store and a bra with its size printed on the slip.
Still, people send him their receipts knowing they could end up in his work, and he generally uses everything he receives.
"I still use them, though," he said.
One anonymous contribution consisted of just two receipts, with no letter or explanation.
One showed two people at a family restaurant late at night. The other recorded the purchase of a yogurt drink from a convenience store at around 4 a.m.
Viki imagined the pair had missed their last train, passed the night at the restaurant and bought the drink before catching the first train home -- although he will never know.
※Background Photo ©︎VIKI
Viki does not always have to imagine the stories behind the receipts. Sometimes their owners turn up.
Kunie Kawashima, from Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, has been giving Viki receipts for years and said she no longer throws any away.
At a recent exhibition in Tokyo, she recognized a supermarket receipt she had used to enter a campaign to win tickets to a musical. She had marked the receipt with a red line, but failed to win.
©︎VIKI
©︎VIKI
Seeing it incorporated into Viki's artwork gave the disappointing memory another life.
"I thought, 'Oh, I'm so glad!'" Kawashima said. "The disappointment I felt at the time has come back to life here, and that makes me really happy."
She now saves receipts specifically for Viki and even regards getting one bearing the red line printed near the end of a paper roll as "hitting the jackpot" because it can add color to his work.
©︎VIKI
©︎VIKI
Another visitor, Satoshi Yoshikawa, 53, from Chiba Prefecture, handed Viki a movie ticket receipt from a film that had deeply moved him.
"I wanted the experience of seeing that movie to remain here," he said.
Yoshikawa usually scans tickets and receipts linked to memorable experiences before discarding the originals. Coming across them later can bring back where he went, the season and even how he felt at the time.
"You get to be happy twice," he said -- first through the experience itself and again when the record of it revives the memory.
For Viki, receipts have also become a way of connecting with people despite his saying communication does not come naturally to him.
"I think receipts are tickets to communication," he said.
©︎VIKI
©︎VIKI
Receipt Art is now Viki's full-time occupation, with income coming from artwork sales and fees for appearances and live performances. His most expensive work to date sold for sold for 2,4 million yen ($15,200).
A typical work uses 100 to 200 receipts, while his largest measured about 21 meters wide and 4 meters high and used just under 10,000.
At live events, viewers can watch the images take shape. From afar they might see a cat, but as they move closer, the picture breaks apart into individual receipts and the details printed on them.
Visitors can contribute receipts themselves and sometimes tell Viki the stories behind them.
"I think that communication itself is art," he said.
His works continue to change even after they are finished.
Thermal paper alters with age, causing the darkened areas to fade. While others describe that as deterioration, Viki sees it differently.
"I call it maturing rather than deteriorating," he said.
Paper receipts themselves may eventually become relics as cashless payments and digital receipts spread.
Viki is comfortable with that prospect, saying reduced reliance on paper could be good for the environment. He accepts that his receipt art may eventually disappear with them.
"Yes, I think it will," he said.
"It'll be a little sad," he added, but new technology would bring new ideas and materials.
Then there is an upside. Just as human bodies and memories change over time, he sees the changing paper as part of the artwork rather than a flaw.
"Perhaps it's art that allows you to see time."
"If receipts disappear, that means the value of receipt art will go up," he said, laughing.
"If that time comes sooner, maybe it'll be good for both me and the planet."
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