handmade paper (kozo), Japanese cypress, sumi, stone
~ 40 x 16 x 16” (chair) / installation size variable
site-specific installation at the hibiscus (tororo-aoi) processing factory (for papermaking neri)
Echizen, Japan
Tororo-aoi is a root used to make neri, a viscous substance that is added to the vat during the papermaking process to disperse the fibers and slow their drainage through the screen. Neri enables the layers of traditional Japanese papermaking, and are partially responsible for the incredible strength and flexibility of the paper. This facility is one of few in the Echizen papermaking village for communally processing the roots into neri by using the stamper seen in the photo.
In a way to light, strands of paper thread and rope emerge from a black sumi ink portal, and wrap around a handmade chair. This installation was viewable at all hours, and the atmosphere of day vs night changed quite a bit. Paper dragonfly-like creatures also roamed the site. The paper flowers on the chair resemble those of the tororo-aoi plant — and the chair itself is an irony; it is a piece of furniture that did not become popular in Japan until the 1800s, the Japanese before then preferring lower seating arrangements. The chair was first used primarily in bureaucratic settings. Here, the chair is being overtaken by vines and shadow. This installation envisions a lost world or future, something left behind, with the elements reclaiming them. In this case, the “elements” are refined into icons of the local craft culture (Japanese paper, timber, sumi, and river-smoothed stone).
