First Aid Series: Endeavour

[ Original Art ]

First Aid Series: Endeavour transforms the ubiquitous Band-Aid into a powerful symbol of healing, resilience, and memory. By meticulously applying Band-Aids to culturally significant objects and encasing them in polished encaustic wax, Inouye creates reliquaries of shared experience. Each piece becomes a meditation on the ways we protect, preserve, and restore ourselves in the face of trauma, challenge, and triumph.

The series interrogates the intersection of personal and collective memory, using the Band-Aid as both a literal and metaphorical tool for healing. Through a process of wrapping and encasing, Inouye elevates everyday objects—such as Olympic weight shot puts, bowling balls, and boomerangs—into artifacts of resilience. The resulting works speak to the universal need for restoration, offering a poignant commentary on the ways we navigate an era of continuous change.

Produced using archival materials and best practices, each piece in the First Aid Series is a testament to the enduring power of art to provoke thought and inspire transformation. The series not only recontextualizes the Band-Aid as a symbol of protection and preservation but also expands its relevance, offering a meditation on the complexities of healing in a fragmented world.

This series is a natural extension of Inouye’s broader artistic practice, which interrogates the intersections of perception, memory, and identity. Across his work, Inouye employs historical, psychological, and technological frameworks to challenge the ways in which we understand ourselves and the world. From his Colour Blind series, which explores the subjectivity of vision through Ishihara-inspired prints, to Guilty Conscience, which juxtaposes 18th-century etchings with contemporary typography, Inouye’s oeuvre consistently engages with themes of visibility, interpretation, and meaning. The First Aid Series deepens this exploration, using the Band-Aid as a lens to examine the ways we heal and preserve our histories.

Inouye uses his work to provoke a deeper engagement with the ways we navigate trauma and recovery. The First Aid Series aligns with contemporary discourses on the intersection of art and healing, drawing on personal and collective experiences to explore human resilience.

The First Aid Series: Little Dots was notably exhibited at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in Vancouver, BC, in 2025, where it was celebrated for its poignant exploration of memory, healing, and cultural identity. This exhibition further solidified the series’ significance within contemporary art discourse, highlighting its universal themes and meticulous craftsmanship.