Kamishibai – Oku-Noto Triennale, Suzu, Japan 2023
Artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso invited me to collaborate with her in the production of new work for the inaugural Oku-Noto Triennale in Suzu, Japan. She was given an entire unused primary school building to occupy with her art installations. Based on a traditional form of street storytelling known as Kamishibai (paper stories) I developed a performance work that told the story of Maria Fernanda’s life as an international artist, her invititation to show in Suzu and how she worked with local volunteers to develop and realise her ambitious installation shown in the Triennale.
My script was translated into Japanese and naive paintings based on my collage sketches were prepared in the kamishibai format by a local artist. The story was performed by local Suzu women for audiences sitting on tatami mats in a custom-renovated room of the school.
Traditional early 20th-century kamishibai practitioners travelled between villages on bicycles. A small theatre frame on the back of the bike was used to show sequences of 15 or 16 paintings to illustrate the narrated tales.
