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"Resistance" is a fateful act of rebellion captured by Tokyo artist Hiroshi Mehata as 1,000 calligraphic works were entrusted to the digital realm. Amid the scanner’s unfeeling gaze devouring tradition, a single error carved black and red lines, proclaiming a quiet defiance against digitalization.

This imagery evokes the countless traces of those who resisted persecution, discrimination, and invasion—voices groaning from history’s depths, later symbolized as religious beacons or surges of the masses.

Yet, the paradox emerges: this evidence of resistance, born to reject the digital, spreads and is owned within that very domain, exposing the cold visage of modern media.

Triggered by an error in 2017, this work found its conceptual footing in 2021. It has since evolved by embracing the chaos of the post-pandemic world—from the NFT boom to the AI revolution. In 2026, the work reached its final form through a dual-ownership system and a rigorous logical framework, with its protocols for succession permanently inscribed on the blockchain.

Resistance is not merely art. It is a mirror reflecting our struggle to resist and thrive within the digital age, a poem etched in ink and sound that captures the power of resistance and regeneration. Through this work, Hiroshi Mehata quietly yet powerfully celebrates the human will that refuses to be swept away by the torrent of technology. To own it is to become part of this narrative, to grasp the resilience needed to confront the chaos of our time. Will you hear its cry and claim its beauty as your own?

The 18 finalists of "YICCA Prize 21-22," this masterpiece by Hiroshi Mehata resonates between past and future, material and immaterial, placing the weight of history and modernity’s questions into the collector’s grasp.