ihoojin no me kara

This blog follows my practice of living, looking, eating and making things during a two-month artist residency in Yokohama, Japan (pictured here).

Ihoojin no me kara roughly means "from the eyes of a visitor," and that's where my work here will evolve from. As a visitor to a new place, everyday things like the way a stove works or the shape of a plastic spoon can seem strange and wonderful, and make you more aware of how things that might seem "ordinary" really might not be to someone visiting your own city. Yokohama was the port city that allowed Westerners in for international trade and cultural exchange for the first time a little more than 150 years ago, and that first vibrant cultural explosion is evident throughout the city in fascinating ways.

As an American in Japan more than a century later, I'm interested in what feels familiar and what doesn't, and how the two are intertwined. Things like these can teach us a lot about each other and about ourselves. More on that soon.