Japanese spaces are so
versatile that in the blink of an eye they can be transformed; futon bedding,
kakejiku hanging scrolls, and fusuma screens, can be folded, rolled up, and put
away in an instant to create empty rooms. This exhibition is presented in the
same way that a Japanese householder would re-arrange their daily living space
to create an installation for a seasonal festival.
Words That
Possess Commercial Value: Health
It's surprising
to see how much medicine is consumed around me daily by so many of my friends
and family. Is it really alright to take that much?! In the media words like
"everlasting health", "anti-ageing" and "diet"
are chanted to the extent that there's no resistance, people just can't seem to
curb their obsessive consumption. Uncertain which way to turn, they can easily
be led astray and lose themselves.
Two Fabrics:
Luxurous Nishijin weaving and simple zokin
Zokin wa Jyokin (Zokin Rags
are Purification Cloths)
In early March Nara's Todaiji
Temple holds a Buddhist purification ritual called the Shuni-e Ceremony. Each
year, artificial camellia flowers assembled by eleven practicing monks are offered
to an eleven-headed statue of Kannon Bodhisattva (Goddess of Mercy). The paper
used for the camellias is created by Sachio Yoshioka's natural dye atelier in
Kyoto, using safflower dye for the red petals and gardenia jasminoides for the
yellow stamens. The hemp cloth used in the process of extracting the colour
from the safflower petals is usually thrown away, but I was gifted it as a
zokin to use in this new artwork.
http://www.textiles-yoshioka.com
In a small book I borrowed
from the indigo dyer Hiroyuki Shindo called Momen Oujo (The Death of Cotton),
Kichinosuke Tonomura, founding president of the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft,
stated "Cotton is kind to people. In the end it serves as a zokin rag
(jokin purification cloth) and it's job is done. That's the way people are
supposed to live." ...I
wonder if I will become a zokin…
Shuni-e
practitioners rub paper to soften it then paste it together, and cotton fabric which backed a kimono is
torn in strips and dirtied with pine-soot torches.
