TRACES – BLUE

Mixed media installation Craig Walsh & Hiromi Tango – in collaboration with the people of Teshima Island

Traces – Blue is a site-specific artwork developed in collaboration with the people of Teshima in response to the changing circumstances in the village of Kou. The project aims to generate a conversation with the community around issues of change, where traditional values and the pace of island time contrast with contemporary society. Incorporating existing objects, structures and a collaborative community artwork, the project aims to document and re-frame this conversation through workshops with residents of all ages, into elements of public sculpture, video installation and a cumulative artwork. The resulting work honours an old fishing boat located in the harbour as the core motif for the project, a vessel for exploring ideas of place and change. The boat was transformed through encasing it in a mirrored surface, and it wass tethered to land with a series of ‘ropes’ made by the community, referencing the inseparable influence that the sea and the fishing industry has had on the historical, cultural and economic foundations of the island. No longer an elegiac remnant of the past, this boat functioned as an oscillating configuration of reflective screens, projecting the contemporary environment and its community. The boat at times disappeared, camouflaged by its reflection, referencing the changing state of this industry in the village whilst the community ‘ropes’ continued to hold it securely in place.

Local residents across the island collected materials including second hand clothes, textiles, ropes, fishing nets and octopus traps, which were used to collectively create the community sculpture ‘Ropes’. These ‘ropes’ secured the mirrored boat to the shoreline, and connected the various elements of the project to the village, representing the ties that bind day to day life on the island to place, community and traditions. The ‘Rope’ sculpture created the ‘historical thread’ made contemporary; interwoven as it is with rich and resonating personal stories of both old and young and their intergenerational narratives. They represented a collective spirit, inseparable from that environment, and a strong commitment to remaining connected.

A disused house near the harbour was the site of a 3-channel video, photographic and sculptural installation, that incorporated ‘traces’ from all the components of the project. The video works responded to the sculptural and collective artworks created throughout the village, distilling and representing a community response to these sculptural interventions. The collaborative ‘rope’ connected the boat and the house, establishing a symbolic binding link  – anchoring object to experience, experience to culture.

Traces – Blue spoke to the strength and resilience of this community and enabled all to collectively reflect on and embrace their challenges in an ever-changing enduring environment.

The Australian works at the Setouchi International Art Festival 2013 were supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.