2013年10月30日
Takamijima
Takamijima is one of 3 islands that joined the Setouchi Triennale for the autumn session. Of all the islands involved in this contemporary art festival, this one is most clearly on the brink of extinction. In its heyday (16th to 18th century), it was populated by close to 1500 people but now there are only 53 left, and most of them are elderly.
Many of the contemporary art installations did a great job of capturing the island’s history and current reality, using materials at hand. One example is House of Pyrethrum. Pyrethrum is a type of chrysanthemum and natural insecticide that was used to make mosquito coils and its cultivation was once a thriving industry on Takajima.
Dried pyrethrum flowers
One elderly resident said she used to climb to the top of the steep island peak every day after school to help bring in the harvest of flowers. That’s quite a climb! You can see the hill and the workers with back racks in the photo of the installation below.
The flowers were then dried and exported off the island for processing. In honor of this lost industry, House of Pyrethrum used every part of the flower – the petals, pistons, etc. – and spread them out over black-lacquered surfaces to produce two striking works. Each square in the photo above and the circle below are made with a different part of the flower. They are spread loose on the surface so don't sneeze near them.
In the loft, the team made a spiral of mosquito cones and burned one a day.
The village on the hill is extremely picturesque and the homes and stone ramparts on which they are built attest to the skill of the Shiwaku carpenters that lived here. The stonewalls and some of the homes as well date back to the Edo period (17th to 19th century).
But most of the homes are abandoned. Kayako Nakashima captured the beauty and the decay in her aptly named Transition House.
Here she is explaining the work. She told us that when she first entered an abandoned building, she noticed that the darkness was pierced by pinpoints of light where insects had eaten holes in the wall. Inspired by the beauty of it, she bored hundreds of holes in the walls and roof and filled them with acrylic rods. The effect is quite awe-inspiring.
As you can see, this island really captured my imagination, but I am out of space and time so I will continue this in my next post.
For more on the Triennale, see http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/
Takamatsu Access:
Takamatsu can be reached by direct flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, by express bus from Kansai International Airport (3 hr), and by direct flights from China and Korea. It can also be reached by taking the bullet train to Okayama and changing to the Marine Liner bound for Takamatsu (runs every 1/2 hour; takes 1 hour). For more info see http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
Many of the contemporary art installations did a great job of capturing the island’s history and current reality, using materials at hand. One example is House of Pyrethrum. Pyrethrum is a type of chrysanthemum and natural insecticide that was used to make mosquito coils and its cultivation was once a thriving industry on Takajima.
Dried pyrethrum flowers
One elderly resident said she used to climb to the top of the steep island peak every day after school to help bring in the harvest of flowers. That’s quite a climb! You can see the hill and the workers with back racks in the photo of the installation below.
The flowers were then dried and exported off the island for processing. In honor of this lost industry, House of Pyrethrum used every part of the flower – the petals, pistons, etc. – and spread them out over black-lacquered surfaces to produce two striking works. Each square in the photo above and the circle below are made with a different part of the flower. They are spread loose on the surface so don't sneeze near them.
In the loft, the team made a spiral of mosquito cones and burned one a day.
The village on the hill is extremely picturesque and the homes and stone ramparts on which they are built attest to the skill of the Shiwaku carpenters that lived here. The stonewalls and some of the homes as well date back to the Edo period (17th to 19th century).
But most of the homes are abandoned. Kayako Nakashima captured the beauty and the decay in her aptly named Transition House.
Here she is explaining the work. She told us that when she first entered an abandoned building, she noticed that the darkness was pierced by pinpoints of light where insects had eaten holes in the wall. Inspired by the beauty of it, she bored hundreds of holes in the walls and roof and filled them with acrylic rods. The effect is quite awe-inspiring.
As you can see, this island really captured my imagination, but I am out of space and time so I will continue this in my next post.
For more on the Triennale, see http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/
Takamatsu Access:
Takamatsu can be reached by direct flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, by express bus from Kansai International Airport (3 hr), and by direct flights from China and Korea. It can also be reached by taking the bullet train to Okayama and changing to the Marine Liner bound for Takamatsu (runs every 1/2 hour; takes 1 hour). For more info see http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
My Profile
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
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