Tuning Bamboo, Video 24.04 minutes, 2019

 

This artwork is based on my experience of Shiraoi, Hokkaido in 2018 where I researched the historical, cultural and ecological background of Nemagaridake - a type of bamboo that grows in Shiraoi. I encountered both personal and historical narratives of Japanese and Ainu in the area. Historical knowledge and people’s stories often seemed to me like mountain landscapes on clouded days, the truth often being unknowable. In ‘Tuning Bamboo’, I explored the process of my own days that felt like I was embodying an old radio machine tuning in to the right channel. I also documented the process of learning through making the Mukkur (Ainu mouth harp) out of the bamboo and working with the community in Shiraoi.