A small boat called a "sanmai" was in the former Fujibayashi Clinic, built in the 1920s, where I stayed and worked. Many people here had the skills to make a boat, and it was a piece of cake to make a small one. Sanmai literally means "three sheets" in Japanese; the name comes from the fact that it was made by fixing three wooden plate components together, one for the bottom of the boat and two for the sides. In Mitarai, sanmai were kept in many homes as playthings for children.
In my installation work, I made a space for children to enjoy picture books. I combined the sammai, as a child's plaything, with stones of various sizes from the sea and mountains, iron remnants which may have fallen off ships, and antique chairs.
Artist-in-residence program at Mitarai Hiroshima
CREDIT
Exhibition gallery / Mitarai art farm, Kure municipal museum of art
Direction / Mitarai art farm : Kenji Mikami
Translation / TAMENTAI GALLERY : Isao Yamamoto
Cooperation / Hiroshima City University, Kure municipal museum of art