Me, The Timeless Self - within the Umwelt
2023
For the past few years, Keiko Miyamori has been reflecting on the events spanning a hundred years in her family's history. One hundred years encompass three generations of her family, all events within her immediate reach.
In her latest work, "Me, The Timeless Self – within the Umwelt,” a part of the mhPROJECT Nokogirini, Miyamori explores the experience of non-human entities over a thousand-year timespan. Drawing inspiration from stories she heard from locals in Ichinomiya, the narrative of the piece slowly took shape. The artwork incorporates rose petals, a wooden boat, and impressions of the trees in Ichinomiya, captured on handmade washi paper using charcoal.
As visitors enter the space, they can sit or lie down on the boat, meant to represent the passage to the next world. Visitors can imagine themselves entering the next realm, or contemplating a hundred years of memories within the undulating layers of washi above them.
Concept drawning by Keiko Miyamori
The visitor is suggested to imagine in a state of decomposition or drifting, over dying rose petals
The exhibit also featured a performance of voice, body and mask by Aine Nakamura, titled “Honehitotsu (a bone)”. Known for her idiosyncratic transborder art of voice and body, Nakamura interpreted the artist’s concepts of “#Umwelt " and “being as energy," to create a sonic and visual space through her performance.
Voice, movement, composition and performance by Aine Nakamura
Mask created by Keiko Miyamori
Visitors recline or lie on the boat as part of the interactive exhibit
I am dead and floating on the river.
And my body is blending with flower petals to become a soil.
So I can offer myself to the creatures in the forest.
One day, a seed of a Quercus gilva fellOn my fluffy soil and sprouted.
And I am getting to the baby sprout.I am 30 years old and growing up in a young tree.
And then 300 years old getting to a bigger one.
So I can offer my dropped acorns to the creatures in the forest.
One day, a white heron nested.On 1000 years old branch and the eggs hatched
And I am getting to be a baby bird.
