Excavating Tales (2024)

Role: Material research

Themes: Animism, ancestral knowledge, Ainu stories

Material: Scavenged clay, wood dust, cork

Excavating Tales (2024) is part of an ongoing artistic research on animism and material.

During our time at the Tenjinyama art residency in Sapporo, Japan we researched Ainu stories and tales. Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the island were Sapporo is located.

Based on the stories left by the Ainu people we made charms out of local clay, sawdust and cork, representing the spirit of the story.