Social engagement performance piece done in Hiketa, Japan. Having spent a month in Japan, I was amazed by the social conduct and dialogue involving Japanese women and landscapes. Submersion in Japanese culture opened up many questions towards topics of misogyny, social norms and sexuality. After taking a bonsai workshop I was immediately taken aback by the force and violence done in the process (in a westerner’s perspective). The piece was done in a small rural town, Hiketa. There, I invited the local community to intervene my body as they would a bonsai tree. Participants were given a set of diagrams of different body postures that the were found similar to the bonsai’s rigid and forced shapes. Video is available upon request.
