Collaboration and Conversation with Ainu Artists

 

Creating platforms and hosting conversations where we can listen directly to Ainu people’s voices has been important part of my work. I collaborated with Dr Marenka Thompson-Odlum at the Pitt Rivers Museum and TORCH the Oxford Research Center to invite the musician Oki to perform both at online (2021) and in person events (2022) in the UK and beyond. I joined conversations with Oki and Rekpo during Contemporary Ainu Life and Music Event by Japan Society (2023) and Jonathan Watkins and Marenka Thompson-Odlum for Ainu artist and musician Mayunkiki during her solo exhibition at IKON Gallery in Birmingham (2022).

 

Between 2022-23 I supported Pitt Rivers Museum to acquire contemporary Ainu artefacts for their collection. The Museum has 377 Objects and 120 Photographs as part of their collection yet the previous acquisitions were made in 1974.

 

Oki made Tonkori (string instrument) and Ms Kane Kumagai prepared a traditional Ainu kimono which helped activate PRM’s indigenous artefacts as living objects.  

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Supported by;

Pitt Rivers Museum

TORCH The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

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