About the artwork

An ordinary agricultural hut from Akita prefecture’s Kamikoani village was disassembled to be re-erected in a grove of trees in the faraway community of Nitta in Niigata. To this was then added an application of colorful paint. Through this installation, while the surrounding area takes on a different, fantastical quality, the two separate regions, alike in their experience of the harsh realities of rural mountain village existence in an aging society, are brought together. A Nitta version of Kamikoani’s Matobi fire-lighting ceremony was held to observe the spring equinox.