Remembering Matsushima Island

In November 2019, I spent two weeks on Matsushima Island, the smallest inhabited island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. The island has two permanent residents and a few occasional visitors who come there to either fish, or to take a short walk to the top of the island to visit a shrine. It is accessible only by boat, and only when the sea is calm.

During my stay a significant amount of time was spent observing the daily rhythms and movements on the island. In the evenings, hours were devoted to knitting simple dishcloths with one of the local residents. The embodied memory of these quiet relational activities became the impetus for the work. Remembering Matsushima Island, aimed to knit a scarf long enough to go around the island. The knitted work currently measures fifteen metres in length, equivalent to approximately one percent of the island’s circumference. The time it would take to complete the scarf was conceived as a way of sustaining a connection with the island long after I had departed.

1) Remembering Matsushima Island, 2020, video still.

2) Remembering Matsushima Island, 2020. Knitted textile, bamboo spools, wooden chairs, single channel video projection.
Image credit: Aaron Christopher Rees.

3) Remembering Matsushima Island, 2020. Knitted textile, bamboo spools, wooden chairs.
Image credit: Eliza Dyball, Christo Crocker and Aaron Christopher Rees.