EMAKI 絵巻 (Good Company Arts)

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Play, download and edit the free video EMAKI 絵巻 (Good Company Arts).

In this 5 minute excerpt edit of EMAKI our digital realm is a construct of the picture scroll. The Japanese ink art of Suminagashi is digitised to suggest sentient hills, mountains, ocean, geology, weather systems and nature's elements. We follow Movement Artist, Meri Otoshi as she navigates different environments and conveys the human figure deeply held in nature.

EMAKI expresses the interconnectedness of all things that live in an ecosystem. When we walk into nature our senses heighten - our perception, intuition, and listening expands out into the surroundings. EMAKI offers a transparent, malleable space where memory is layered. The scroll surface is a gateway between the digital and the physical, the world of spirit and the world of form.

The 2 animals which appear are the Japanese Deer (Shika) and the Japanese Sagi Bird (Tori). The Deer’s antlers are like a crown, they grow beyond its body, bringing it closer to the sky and making it sacred. In many cultures, the Deer is a symbol of spiritual authority. During a Deer’s life the antlers fall off and grow again and the animal is also a symbol of regeneration. The Deer is a sacred animal with the spirit of gentleness, a messenger and a shaman - femininity personified. The Sagi Bird symbolism includes providing safe passage to the soul world, self-confidence, and as peace bringer. The bird species connects us to the world of spirit.

Taonga Puoro and sound-landscape recordings from New Zealand combined with Japanese Shakuhachi flute and Biwa recordings create an acoustic bridge between Asian and Pacific cultures for this unique project. Jac Grenfell's music underscores the emotional ebb and flow of the film. A series of scenes that evoke Haiku, reveal an intimate quest from Otoshi as she breathes light into ancient places.

The EMAKI film illuminates the concept of mono no aware 物の哀れ, literally ‘the pathos of things’. Also suggesting ‘an empathy toward things’, or ‘a sensitivity to ephemera’. It is a Japanese term for the awareness of impermanence, or the transience of things imbued with a wistfulness at their passing. In the array of beliefs that Japanese culture has developed to express ways of relating to nature, one that is especially useful is that of the deeply personal ‘perception of things’, which is the driving force that defines Japanese culture through the relationship with nature, a force nourished and enriched through being actively exercised. It refers to a concept in the national aesthetic, the mono no aware.

Special thanks to Creative New Zealand and the Asia Artform Exchange Fund, Art Space of Osaka, Meri Otoshi and our Japanese friends and partners.

Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts | goodcompanyarts.com

Download, play and edit free videos and free audios from EMAKI 絵巻 (Good Company Arts) using RedcoolMedia.net web apps