“しめ縄 - Shimenawa Japanese straw ropes”
2024
Trabajo Práctico Residency, Valencia
Found straw
As part of Trabajo Práctico summer residency programme, I produced explorations into the material maliability of straw within the context of Japanese folklore.
Set in the breathtaking backdrop of the Valencian mountains, I shared my knowledge on Shimenawa with other artists in residence, sharing and remembering cultural identities around the material of straw. This shared exploration functioned as a form of cataloguing and archiving of the power and identies surrounding this often disregarded material.
My exploration concluded with a performance, where myself and the rest of the group completed a short hike to a half burnt tree, which I then tied my completed Shimenawa onto.
Mythology and folklore of Shimenawa
The tradition of Shimenawa derives from Shintoism and Japanese mythology. Objects and spaces dawned with a Shimenawa are said to be of a sacred existence. They act as symbolic boundaries between mortal life and the spiritual world.
I continue to examine this material not only for its folkloric power, but of its historical functionality and day to day use. This matial exploration coincides with my continued dissection of the cultural identity of Japan. Dismantling and reexamining its use may lead to the dissolution of the regidity of cultural identity.