Sumau 棲まう ( 2015 )

Masumi was commissioned to make a performance piece for the 5th Nakanojo Biennale in Gunma, Japan. The venue she was given to perform in was a historical Japanese silk-raising farm house located in a deep mountain valley. She created “Sumau” (meaning inhabit in Japanese) a piece which presents the lives and memories lived and passed on in this house for decades.

Concept text:
The building with a history and memories of former residents has a great presence. There are many lives coexisting. Quietly but surely there are numerous spirits and the depth of thousands of stories exist. I feel them on my skin and imagine what they are. I breath them in and breath them out through my body. And now my movement adds new stories to the history of this building.