YAMBARU ART FESTIVAL
2023-2024

ART PROGRAM

《Unkeya Hebetou》

Inspired by the ancestral spirit beliefs and funeral rites of the Ryukyu Islands, this installation work is composed of video, ceramics, and objects.
In the Ryukyu region, there used to be a custom called "washing bones" in which the remains of the deceased were washed with alcohol and other liquids, placed in an urn, and buried in a grave.
The urn used to hold the remains was called a "Jiishigaami" and was decorated in various ways according to the period.
In many parts of the world, urns and jars are also regarded as symbols of the "womb" through which the soul comes and goes.
In this exhibition, Ohkojima and his team will recreate this "Jiishigaami" as a vessel for the rebirth of ancestral spirits, and with the cooperation of the local people, create a boundary space in the classroom of Shioya Elementary School to connect the voices of ancestral spirits to the future.

The title "Unkaya Hebetu" is a Ryukyuan word meaning "prepare early for the ancestor-welcoming ceremony."

PROFILE

Maki Okojima

PROFILE

Tokyo-based artist and art unit. Standing in the "in-between" worlds of different things, they seek to depict the intertwined aspects of life and death. They have lived and worked in India, Poland, China, Mexico, France, and other countries. In 2017, he participated in the Tara Ocean Foundation's Pacific Ocean Project. In recent years, he has been involved in exhibitions at museums and galleries, as well as stage design. In 2023, he entered into a full-fledged collaboration with editor Yosuke Tsuji, with whom he had been working for some time, and since then they have been working as an art unit under the same name.