A Symbol of Celebration, an Ad Balloon Asks: Another View of Mother's Day
Mujou Inc. announces a new ad balloon artwork "It's Sunny, It's Rainy." by Kiku Nakazawa of Tokyo University of the Arts, to coincide with Mother's Day. Scheduled to be displayed above Shibuya Ward from May 8, 2026, this public art piece, linked with the "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition," expresses the diverse emotions surrounding Mother's Day.
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- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 22:30
- 🔍 Collected: April 24, 2026 at 14:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 25, 2026 at 00:11 (10h 10m after Collected)
Mujou Inc. (Headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yota Maeda) announces the new ad balloon artwork "It's Sunny, It's Rainy." by Kiku Nakazawa, a first-year master's student in the Global Art Practice program at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts, as a related work for the "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition 2026," held in conjunction with Mother's Day.
This public art piece is scheduled to be displayed above Shibuya Ward for three days, from Friday, May 8, 2026, to Sunday, May 10, 2026. *Please note that it will not be displayed in case of rain or strong winds.
Using an ad balloon, a symbol of celebration that has appeared in cities, the work sheds light on both the aspect of Mother's Day's origin as "a day to remember deceased mothers" and its contemporary commercial spread, creating multiple landscapes surrounding Mother's Day.
As Mother's Day fills the city, the emotions of not only those who celebrate the day but also those who have lost their mothers, and those who approach Mother's Day with complex feelings, certainly exist within this society. This ad balloon artwork is an attempt to gently hoist such unseen emotions into the city sky.
A work that re-examines Mother's Day as "a day that is not the same landscape"
The "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition" is an online exhibition where letters addressed to deceased mothers can be anonymously submitted and publicly displayed. Since its launch in 2021, over 2,000 letters have been received to date, and it will be held again in 2026.
This exhibition aims to offer new options for those who have lost their mothers to spend Mother's Day, and to gradually open up the landscape of Mother's Day itself, extending imagination to the pain and absence in the shadow of celebration.
This new balloon artwork is positioned as an attempt to connect this philosophy not only online but also to the public spaces of the city. Even on the same Mother's Day, for some, it appears as a bright day to express gratitude, while for others, it emerges as a day to strongly feel absence and loss. This work aims to quietly visualize such differences in perception without harming anyone.
Using the medium of an ad balloon, a symbol of celebration that has appeared in cities, this work, in a way different from bustling advertising expressions, opens up to society the emotions in the shadow of celebration and the presence of absence. It creates an opportunity to notice that multiple landscapes exist on the day of Mother's Day.
The artwork is titled "It's Sunny, It's Rainy."
The title of this work is "It's Sunny, It's Rainy."
It hoists into the sky as a single image the ambiguous fluctuations of emotion that arise on Mother's Day, which cannot be simply described as either blessing or loss. Depending on the viewer, it may appear as tears, rain, or clouds. It is a work that connects with each viewer's experience without fixing its meaning to one.
Artist Comment
"Whether my steps were heavy or light, hurried or slow, I walked the same path.
For me, having grown up in Shibuya, this city, while pretending to tolerate differences, waited for me squarely, with doorless, square advertisements blocking my way.
Into such a city, I float a large balloon. It sometimes looks like a statue intertwined with clouds, or like a birthday candle that one wants to blow out. Or it might seem like a blessing rain, making one want to look for puddles.
It appears as if a view suddenly opens up from a path that I had not seen until midway.
It's okay if some people find this floating presence and some don't. Because the me of back then might have been talking to pebbles on the ground and might not have found it.
I wonder how people viewing from the other side see this landscape. Even standing in the same place, the way the landscape is framed varies depending on the height of one's gaze and the atmosphere of the day.
My landscape and your landscape. When I gently layer the nameless landscape drifting between them, I wonder if a slightly kinder path might open up in this familiar city."
Artist Profile
Kiku Nakazawa (Profile image of Kiku Nakazawa)
Kiku Nakazawa, Tokyo University of the Arts
Born in Iwate Prefecture in 2002. After graduating from Keio University Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, she enrolled in the Global Art Practice program at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts. Currently a first-year master's student. Selected for the 2025 Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Creator Fostering Project and the World Economic Forum (Davos Conference) Global Shapers.
Based on her experience of losing her mother at the age of 14, she presents works and projects centered on the concept of loss from bereavement. She has interviewed over 200 bereaved individuals to date, and based on those experiences, she received the "GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD" in 2022 and 2023 for "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition" and "Memorial Ceremony" (葬想式) which she planned.
In the "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition", over 2,000 letters...
This public art piece is scheduled to be displayed above Shibuya Ward for three days, from Friday, May 8, 2026, to Sunday, May 10, 2026. *Please note that it will not be displayed in case of rain or strong winds.
Using an ad balloon, a symbol of celebration that has appeared in cities, the work sheds light on both the aspect of Mother's Day's origin as "a day to remember deceased mothers" and its contemporary commercial spread, creating multiple landscapes surrounding Mother's Day.
As Mother's Day fills the city, the emotions of not only those who celebrate the day but also those who have lost their mothers, and those who approach Mother's Day with complex feelings, certainly exist within this society. This ad balloon artwork is an attempt to gently hoist such unseen emotions into the city sky.
A work that re-examines Mother's Day as "a day that is not the same landscape"
The "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition" is an online exhibition where letters addressed to deceased mothers can be anonymously submitted and publicly displayed. Since its launch in 2021, over 2,000 letters have been received to date, and it will be held again in 2026.
This exhibition aims to offer new options for those who have lost their mothers to spend Mother's Day, and to gradually open up the landscape of Mother's Day itself, extending imagination to the pain and absence in the shadow of celebration.
This new balloon artwork is positioned as an attempt to connect this philosophy not only online but also to the public spaces of the city. Even on the same Mother's Day, for some, it appears as a bright day to express gratitude, while for others, it emerges as a day to strongly feel absence and loss. This work aims to quietly visualize such differences in perception without harming anyone.
Using the medium of an ad balloon, a symbol of celebration that has appeared in cities, this work, in a way different from bustling advertising expressions, opens up to society the emotions in the shadow of celebration and the presence of absence. It creates an opportunity to notice that multiple landscapes exist on the day of Mother's Day.
The artwork is titled "It's Sunny, It's Rainy."
The title of this work is "It's Sunny, It's Rainy."
It hoists into the sky as a single image the ambiguous fluctuations of emotion that arise on Mother's Day, which cannot be simply described as either blessing or loss. Depending on the viewer, it may appear as tears, rain, or clouds. It is a work that connects with each viewer's experience without fixing its meaning to one.
Artist Comment
"Whether my steps were heavy or light, hurried or slow, I walked the same path.
For me, having grown up in Shibuya, this city, while pretending to tolerate differences, waited for me squarely, with doorless, square advertisements blocking my way.
Into such a city, I float a large balloon. It sometimes looks like a statue intertwined with clouds, or like a birthday candle that one wants to blow out. Or it might seem like a blessing rain, making one want to look for puddles.
It appears as if a view suddenly opens up from a path that I had not seen until midway.
It's okay if some people find this floating presence and some don't. Because the me of back then might have been talking to pebbles on the ground and might not have found it.
I wonder how people viewing from the other side see this landscape. Even standing in the same place, the way the landscape is framed varies depending on the height of one's gaze and the atmosphere of the day.
My landscape and your landscape. When I gently layer the nameless landscape drifting between them, I wonder if a slightly kinder path might open up in this familiar city."
Artist Profile
Kiku Nakazawa (Profile image of Kiku Nakazawa)
Kiku Nakazawa, Tokyo University of the Arts
Born in Iwate Prefecture in 2002. After graduating from Keio University Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, she enrolled in the Global Art Practice program at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts. Currently a first-year master's student. Selected for the 2025 Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Creator Fostering Project and the World Economic Forum (Davos Conference) Global Shapers.
Based on her experience of losing her mother at the age of 14, she presents works and projects centered on the concept of loss from bereavement. She has interviewed over 200 bereaved individuals to date, and based on those experiences, she received the "GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD" in 2022 and 2023 for "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition" and "Memorial Ceremony" (葬想式) which she planned.
In the "Deceased Mother's Day Exhibition", over 2,000 letters...