Whistling Mountains
Video installation, Omachi, Japan, 2024
Videos: “Whistling Mountains” (11:33), “Monkey Catcher” (08:08), “Sora’s Second Tail” (07:40)
These shadow animations are based on fairy tales that I wrote during a two week residency in the Omachi mountains. Talking to local storytellers and other people in the community, I realized the volume and scope of the fantastic in everyday lives. The fairy tales allude to some well-known legends and local myths, but veer towards philosophical explorations of the self and its various deficiencies - a cat that needs a second tail to feel complete, a monkey hunter who caught himself, a cicada that sacrifices its life and songs to make a monster happy.
The videos were presented in the Sasayaki Shrine that was rebuilt to become a movie theater.
