369meteor @ network school

Ethan and I left Kyoto and rode a bullet train to a suburban town to catch a ferry to Naoshima, aka. Art Island. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums. The first artwork you arrive to when landing to the pier is a massive public art polka dot pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama. Karen & Seiko were just an hour behind us so we checked into our house and went back to the pier. They arrived. As Ethan and I sat by the artwork and inside of it I thought how fun and playful the mom and daughter duo could pop out of all the wholes of the pumpkin. I asked Seiko if they would and she happily held her daughters hand and ran into the big red pumpkin. They couldn't see me from the inside unless they jumped up so I hollered, Action! We saw their heads bopping about in different circular windows like we were in some sort of psychedelic cartoon. What felt like The Beatles Yellow Submarine animation. Once we made the portrait of the day we all rented bikes and adventured around the island together to go see the rest of the art on the island. I was determined to spot the big yellow Kusama pumpkin on the other side of the island. We rode for an hour and made it at the top of the hill to stop for lunch at this tiny wooden udon shack with a family sitting and talking together while running their business. Seiko translated and they happily served us their best dish. We were lit up by the soup and tea and it was time to continue on the bike path. Biking around...It was freedom, it was so much fun. We finally made it to the first museum. There was a lawn of sculptures, all shaped like animals of the kingdom. Seiko told us she was a healer and saw that my lungs were in pain. I took off my shirt and she laid me on the ground hugging the grassy earth. Deep breathing and deep releasing, to the point where it expands throughout your entire body. She performed reiki on me while breathing. I started to wheeze and blow out old air and dead energy deep within far fetched bronchial passages. After what felt like an hour, I sat up crying and could feel no pain in my back or lungs. We had a mini healing ceremony before we walked into the zen cement architecture to visit Hiroshi Sugimoto and James Turrell permanent installations. It was a big grey bunker with rooms highly curated to compliment the architecture. There were only 4 artists showing. It was time to go find the yellow pumpkin. We were close! We were heading back to where our bikes were parked we serendipitously ran into the great Andre 3000. He was with a couple friends carrying his flute and working on his new album. We shared smiles and good grace and continued on our way, until we saw him again later that day at a 7-11 by where we were staying. Some people call it Deja Vu or fate, but I like to call it divine alignment. I see it as artists and musicians just living their life and on their journey working their hardest to make their newest masterpieces.

GM 🎞️ Moments of the Unknown. 041 May 18th at 10:20 Naoshima, Japan Moments of the Unknown is a 366 day portrait series featuring 10-second Super 8 artworks created during a yearlong odyssey to all 7 continents around the world. Link in bio to learn more and bid!