This video considers Ryoko Suzuki's work, Bind, as an image of one woman's choice to emancipate herself from the sometimes deceitful nature of cultural traditions. In her photographic series, lengths of pigskin are wrapped around the artist's head, contorting her to the extent that her 'natural' face is no longer visible. The hide references the fairy tale, Three Little Pigs. Ryoko uses this piece of folklore to describe her contempt for the incongruities between the magic of cultural fiction and the ugliness of reality. The hide is stained with blood, which represents the arduous passage from adolescence to womanhood.
String Dance for Ryoko and Shamisen looks at both metaphorical and literal use of the word binding, within the context of Japanese patriarchal structures. I have taken music from the solo concert of an anonymous (Japanese) woman playing Shamisen. The intention behind this decision is for the motions of my video to be wrapped and unwrapped by the plucking sound of the instrument. The use of a traditional instrument in which players are classically trained is analogous to the systems of thought in which Japanese women, such as Ryoko Suzuki have been indoctrinated. Her decision to challenge cultural tradition is embodied in the frantic unwrapping of the brown acrylic wool used in String Dance.
Read more about Bind here.
Watch String Dance for Ryoko and Shamisen here.
