NORI MONOGATARI

NORI MONOGATARI is a site-responsive research project based on participatory textiles with elementary school children for the Tokiwa Gallery at the Tokiwa Museum. Local culture is inquired through the use of recycled fishing nets and the medium and techniques of textiles. This material embodies the local tradition of seaweed farming and production and the importance of Ube as a port city. This rooted and compelling story is on the verge of disappearing, as the Nori seaweed industry is probably meant to stop in ten years, as explained by the fishermen's association's members. Following the lines and dots of those fishing nets, it is possible to discover a unique and essential part of Japanese culture strongly connected to history, the environment, the slow change of life habits, and climate changes.
During participative-making sessions involving storytelling and collaborative drawings, local school children were invited to create their interpretation of NORI and the fishing life in Ube. During an 8-hour hand-weaving workshop, the children made a significant and colourful tapestry. The final exhibition in the museum displayed both the collaborative artworks and the artist's interpretation of Ube and NORI, where old fishing nets were layered upon a bamboo structure with a hand-knotting technique. The organic texture of the weaving mimicked a cluster of seaweed on the ocean floor, and the shape of the sculpture reminded me of a submerged mountain covered by layers of nets. The voices of local people recorded during the project's development at Ube Port supported a video projection of a fisherman and his wife at work on their boat. This visual and sound work conveys a powerful insight into Japanese culture and ways of living in Ube, speaking about traditions, hard work, and a special connection to the land and the sea.