2024 – | 2x 16mm and 1x video projection performance | optical sound

Below text is from (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico film festival in A Coruña in 2024.

You are bringing a work in progress, Asanoha, based on the Kumiko Japanese craft. How did you discover Kumiko and what made you think about translating this idea into cinema? How has this work evolved?

I was familiar with the pattern Asanoha through another Japanese craft called Sashiko, a kind of embroidery skill for fabric repair. When I was looking into local traditions at an artist-residency at Center in Japan, I came across Kumiko that uses the same patterns but with different functions. Kumiko is an amazing traditional wood-latticework that has been around for hundreds of years. Delicate repeated geometric patterns crafted in ultra-thin pieces of cypress wood skilfully put together without nails to create large panels traditionally used for sliding door screens or dividers to diffuse light and wind in living spaces. Toyoda-san, a Kumiko craftsman who I was introduced to, says it all begins with exact equilateral triangles. He showed us how it is made and the evolution of the craft. The skills and knowledge in the qualities of this technique developed over centuries carried down to today’s artisans enabling them to make delicate and powerful effects. I find similarities in Kumiko to the process for film craft. 

I had a few ideas on how I can translate this onto film. I decided to use Steve Farrer’s 10 Drawings as a start. Strips of clear 16mm film are laid into a rectangle and the pattern of Asanoha (Hemp leaf) is drawn onto it. I did the same using 16mm black film but this time scratched the pattern into its emulsion. The lines are drawn and scratched over to the soundtrack side of the films as well. They were later joined back into two reels, one with clear film and one with black film. I screened a version at Center, to the local community in Kanuma City in March this year. Since then, I have developed this work further but it’s still not completely finished. This second work-in-progress screening of Asanoha will be shown for the first time outside Japan at (S8) Film Festival.

Update 2025: Asanoha has been performed at Cafe Oto, Divfuse and not/nowhere in London, Winnipeg Experimental Film Festival in Canada and in Singapore.

Below is a documentation of an improvisation jam session at Center with Tsukasa Takahashi from Kanuma. It include film reels from Asanoha and Washi #2.