Take All your Belongings With You, 2021
Commissioned by the Northern Alps Festival, Omachi, Japan
The exhibition unfolds across two interconnected spaces, each offering a reflection on the history and cultural memory of the Omachi region.
The first room presents a kinetic shadow installation inspired by the historical transportation of salt along regional trade routes. Suspended from the ceiling, a series of rotating mechanical elements project drawings on translucent green and blue surfaces, creating an ever-changing choreography of light and shadow. The imagery evokes the cyclical rhythms of a nomadic way of life, recalling the movement of people across long distances as they carried both material goods and the emotional weight of their journeys. Through its shifting projections, the installation transforms a historical narrative into a meditation on migration, labor, and the enduring relationship between movement and memory.
The second room is dedicated to a series of large-scale watercolor portraits created in collaboration with members of the local community. Participants are invited to bring a personal belonging to the painting sessions, becoming both subjects and collaborators in the work. Their possessions function as contemporary counterparts to the burdens once carried along the historic salt routes, suggesting that while the nature of what people carry has changed, the act of bearing physical, emotional, and symbolic weight remains universal. The portraits reflect on the ways individuals carry hopes, desires, memories, and personal histories, posing the question of whether it is possible to set these burdens aside and continue forward with clarity and openness.
Together, the two installations establish a dialogue between historical and contemporary forms of pilgrimage, labor, and self-reflection. Situated within the context of a Buddhist temple, the exhibition considers both art and religion as practices of mediation and transformation. Just as the temple offers a space to relinquish worldly distractions and cultivate presence, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on what they carry through life and what they might choose to leave behind.
Photo credits: courtesy of the Northern Alps Festival.
