One woman exhiition in Kyoto 2013.Sept.28-Oct.6

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.

Materials: PTP (Push-Through-Packs), lacquer thread, plastic thread.

Words That Possess Commercial Value: Tradition

Two Fabrics: Luxurous Nishijin weaving and simple zokin

Nishijin textiles never lose the value of their brilliance, no matter how small one of these woven pieces may become, nothing can compare. Too beautiful to be merely a bit player, it is always given the leading role to show itself off in all its grandeur. On the other hand, as a cotton garment lives it's life passed from person to person, it gets used over time until it's finally worn out and becomes a rag or dusting cloth.

Materials: Safflower-dyed zokin rag, Japanese paper, Nishijin obi fabric, flat-faced gold thread

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…

Washi paper

 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.